CBS Corporation

Characteristics and major assets

As an operating group, CBS Corporation managed a range of media activities: network television programming, national news operations, local television stations and publishing. Its holdings generally included both content production and distribution arms, supporting broadcast schedules, syndicated shows and printed or digital publishing. Examples of these categories are listed below:

• Broadcasting: a national television network and affiliated local stations that distributed entertainment, news and sports.
• Production: studios and production units that created scripted series, daytime programming and specials.
• Publishing and other media: book imprints and non‑broadcast media businesses associated with the company.

History and corporate changes

The name and structure of the business trace to a split of the original Viacom into two independent public companies. Before 2005, the conglomerate operated under the Viacom name; after reorganizing, the broadcast‑and‑publishing side took the CBS Corporation identity while a separate company kept the Viacom name and certain cable, film and youth‑oriented assets. Those two companies followed different strategic paths through the 2000s and 2010s.

In late 2019, the two firms reunited through a merger that combined CBS Corporation and Viacom into a single entity commonly referred to as ViacomCBS, completing a corporate cycle that reunited broadcast, cable and film properties under common ownership. The re‑combination reflected changing economics in the media industry and the desire to consolidate content libraries and distribution channels.

Importance and distinctions

CBS Corporation was significant for its emphasis on broadcast television and legacy news brands, while the separate Viacom tended to focus on cable channels and theatrical film. This division shaped programming strategies, target audiences and corporate priorities for more than a decade. The reuniting of the companies in 2019 aimed to create scale in a marketplace increasingly driven by streaming and aggregated content catalogs.

Further reading

For more background on the company and its corporate transitions, see overviews of American mass media consolidation and the histories of both CBS and Viacom. Additional context about broadcasting and publishing in the United States can be found via resources on mass media, broadcasting, and publishing. Contemporary accounts of the split and reunion use the names Viacom and the description of how assets were spun off during corporate reorganizations.