• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 3 hours ago

Paramount Skydance wants to “redefine” its cable channels' "brands" -- not sell them off. 

This comes from the company's new ownership executives during its first press event last week -- specifically from Jeff Shell, the new president of Paramount.

This seems to be totally opposite from business analysts' common assumptions that industry-wide cable TV networks's spinoffs or outright sales are coming.

So what does "redefine" mean, exactly? Let your imagination run a little wild.  

Senior executives believe there is a lot to preserve while at the same time admitting it is "super challenging," says George Cheeks, chairman of TV media for the company, who will oversee CBS Television Network and cable channels.

They do recognize that specific shows like “South Park,” “The Daily Show,” "SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Yellowstone” and other series are valuable TV content.

Add this to the mix: Shell has talked up somewhat expected and obvious layoffs in the company to come. Assume that much of this would seemingly be targeted at cable TV networks. And assume the worst.

They include: BET, CMT, Comedy Central, Logo, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop, Smithsonian, TV Land and VH1, plus premium outlet Showtime.

From a business side, it seems that drastic changes in advertising and distribution revenue generation -- key to those cable networks -- will be part of that redefinition of things. So slashing or combining staff at those channels will still keep those "brands" intact. That is a shell -- pardon the expression -- of what is to come.

Somewhat good news is new streaming platforms -- including Paramount+ -- can still benefit in part from linear TV (broadcast and cable)  networks ability to use its platform as promotion for those shows that also play in streaming.

But what is the end game there? The hope is that traditional cord-cutting -- while still a major problem -- is slowing down somewhat. Traditional pay TV network bundler Charter Communications' Spectrum is seeing some of this recently.

Will this industry find some level ground to stand on soon -- say, with 35% of the U.S. TV homes with a traditional linear TV network bundle? It is just just under 50% now, according to estimates -- currently just around 62 million homes.

And if so will those TV networks have a different financial business relationship with their sister streaming channels at those big media organizations?