CBS and Viacom to merge, reuniting the storied network with Comedy Central, MTV and Paramount Pictures

After years of on-again, off-again merger talks, broadcast giant CBS and its corporate sibling Viacom finally agreed to reunite in a $12-billion deal that will bring together such well-known brands as CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon and Showtime. CBS, which is the larger of the two companies and worth $18.5 billion, will absorb the smaller Viacom, which owns such assets as MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central and the Paramount Pictures movie studio in Hollywood. The new company will be called ViacomCBS Inc., in a nod to the legacy of Sumner Redstone, the ailing 96-year-old media titan who built an empire from a small chain of drive-in movie theaters in the Northeast. Viacom Chief Executive Bob Bakish will become president and chief executive of the new entity, and gain a seat on the board. Shari Redstone, the mogul’s daughter, will become the first chairwoman in Viacom’s history.