Reply #9: Power, Influence, DeRegulation...The Golden Rules

[KharmaTrain]

Just follow the money. Right now all the major media conglomerates require government licenses to operate or fall under one form of regulation or another...and know if they blow this regime, or let them get blown, they'll get their next round of deregulation passed which means even greater profits.

Viacom/CBS is sitting on legislation that will allow them to gobble up UPN and buy more local stations...billions have already been transacted pending the FCC rolling over (which they were supposed to do last Spring but didn't, now it'll happen this Spring). Had the Democrats won, it's almost certain that this dereg would have been killed and Viacom/CBS, along with all the major media conglomerates, would have had to sell billions of their property...not only losing whatever revenues those properties were bringing in, but also taking a major hit on their stock price as the market gets very nervous on companies that contract rather than expand.

Moonves has a company that is all over the map...a radio division Mel Karmazin kept as his own private domain...that needs streamlining...a television network that regularly falls behind Faux and even UPN on some nights and local television operations that under-perform compared to NBC and ABC-owned outlets.

Truth and integrity are wonderful when you are making big profits or that's what the public demands. Unfortunately, we live in a short-attention span society that is ignorantly and arrogantly selfish...and CBS is no different. Given the option of truths or profits, there's not even a contest. I expect more regime ass-kissing than ever with Karamzin (a * hater) gone and Sumner Redstone, a strong Conservative, really calling all the shots.