Viacom Organizes TV Nets Into 2 Groups

Major restructuring at Viacom has resulted in a big $785 million write-down, the company announced on Monday.

Viacom says “the charge reflects the impact of write-downs of under-performing programming, including the abandonment of select acquired titles, as well as costs associated with workforce reductions.”

Previous news of company-wide layoffs included MTV.

Viacom has announced that three of its domestic TV network groups will be reorganized into two new organizations, which affects sales, marketing, creative and support functions. The company said the move is “designed to promote greater cross-brand collaboration.”

Viacom closed down 1.5% on Monday to $68.60. After-market trading of the company’s stock was down another 1.6%.

Viacom’s most-viewed networks in prime time include Nick at Nite, which is down to a Nielsen 1.065 million average viewers in 2014 from 1.091 million in 2013; Spike is up a bit to 905,000 from 872,000.

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Both MTV and Comedy Central are also down in prime time -- MTV, to 778,000 in 2014 from 812,000 in 2013; Comedy is at 773,000, down from 822,000. VH1 has gained to 707,000 from 652,000.

Although Nickelodeon still leads all cable networks when it comes to total day viewers -- at 1.513 million viewers in 2014 -- the sum is down from 1.769 million in 2013.

Viacom will recognize the pre-tax charge in its second fiscal quarter 2015. Second-quarter results will be released April 30. Viacom says this will result in $175 million in savings in 2015 and $350 million in ongoing annual savings to the company.

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