Talk Of A ViacomCBS, Comcast Partnership On Hold

ViacomCBS and Comcast’s potential partnership has been slowed by concern about the Biden Administration’s pledge to aggressively enforce the nation’s antitrust laws, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions, reports Forbes.

Redstone, Bakish

Both sides are waiting to see how the new administration’s regulators react to the proposed merger of AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit with Discovery, says the source, before resuming discussions about ways the two sides could work together — including any possible business combination — beyond a possible streaming partnership outside the U.S.

Comcast and ViacomCBS held at least one high-level talk in June about the possibility of joining Comcast’s Peacock service, which is part of its NBCUniversal unit, and Viacom CBS' Paramount+. That conversation, which involved Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, ViacomCBS Chairwoman Shari Redstone and CEO Bob Bakish, led to a broader discussion of whether there were other strategic possibilities, from a Hulu-styled streaming joint venture to a more comprehensive tie-up, sources tell Forbes.

Brian Roberts

Both streaming services are struggling to match the success seen by earlier entrants including Netflix, Apple, Amazon and Disney. Peacock, which is currently showing the Olympic games, is available only in the U.S., while Paramount+ is offered in the U.S. and Latin America and plans to launch in 25 markets around the world by the end of the year.

For now, the companies will likely focus on bundling both services to improve their reach in international markets, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal, but remain interested in the possibility of a broader alliance. 

President Biden signed an executive order on July 9, vowing to aggressively enforce antitrust laws “to combat the excessive concentration of industry.”