• Bloomberg, Tuesday, November 1, 2005 11:48 AM

Viacom's last quarterly earnings report before being split into two separate companies reveals a story worthy of a Hollywood screen adaptation: Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities." Revenues for MTV Networks, the unit that will serve the core of the new Viacom, rose 15 percent during the third quarter of 2005, while sales at CBC, the unit that will be the core of the other spin-off, fell 2 percent. "The results illustrate the divide between the company's broadcast and cable businesses and underscore Chairman Sumner Redstone's argument for splitting Viacom by the end of the year," writes financial news service Bloomberg in its coverage of the earnings results. Total sales for the still-combined entity jumped 10 percent to $5.94 billion, thanks in part to the blockbuster success of a Paramount Studios adaptation--not "A Tale Of Two Cities," but H.G. Wells' "War Of The Worlds."

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