Viacom CEO Calls MTV US Strategy a ‘Mistake’

During a Monday afternoon session at the 44th annual UBS Global Media & Communications Conference in New York, Viacom Acting President & CEO Robert Bakish — who formerly ran the media giant’s European operations — acknowledged flaws in the recent programming strategy of MTV, Viacom’s erstwhile flagship.

[...] Bakish didn’t shy away from identifying weaknesses in Viacom’s TV properties, and the disappointing two-year performance from Viacom’s movie studio, Paramount Pictures.

[...] in a year full of executive turmoil — Bakish is the third Viacom CEO since August — he hinted at more C-suite changes to come.

Bakish also waded into the TV executive topic du jour: the rise of over-the-top streaming services, both “skinny bundles” like AT&T’s DirecTV Now and niche, direct-to-consumer offerings like Time Warner’s HBO Now.

Viacom has in fact launched its own direct-to-consumer products, namely BET Play, which allows BET fans not in the U.S. to access content including the network’s TV series and awards shows.

[...] while Bakish said BET Play was a success in reaching overlooked fans of the network, which isn’t the mass-audience product that Viacom networks like MTV are in most international markets, he prefers working with other distributors as part of a “skinny bundle”