Episode summary
MTV Pioneer on the Future of Media and Entertainment | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 18 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Tom Freston
Summary
Tom Freston argued that media is moving through another technology-driven upheaval, from cable to digital streaming and now AI, and he expects more consolidation among legacy companies. He said the biggest strategic mistake for old-line media is missing the digital transition, contrasting Viacom’s stock buybacks with Disney’s major content acquisitions, which he argued made Disney more durable.
On Warner Bros. Discovery, Freston said Netflix would be the better owner because it is a stronger fit for consumers and for the business than a Paramount-Skydance combination of two legacy companies. He also said Sumner Redstone would be disappointed by how the Viacom empire evolved and by the decline in company value.
Freston reflected on MTV’s shift away from music videos, saying the move into non-music programming was strategic and helped the network become a bigger business. He suggested MTV could still be reinvented digitally around music curation. He also described reality TV as an unexpected offshoot of that era, saying The Real World and later shows helped create a cheaper TV model that eventually fed into The Apprentice and the broader content culture of today.
Key takeaways
- Freston expects more consolidation among legacy media companies as the industry moves from streaming into the AI era.
- He said Netflix would be a better owner of Warner Bros. Discovery than Paramount-Skydance because the combination would fit consumers and the business better.
- Freston argued Viacom weakened itself by spending $16 billion on stock buybacks instead of investing in content like Disney did.
- He said MTV’s move away from music videos was a strategic response to remote control-driven viewer behavior and changing distribution economics.
- He described The Real World as a low-cost innovation that helped launch modern reality TV and indirectly shaped later hits like The Apprentice.
Notable quotes
“we're moving into the AI revolution. So the media industry is in in a constant state of flux”
“I think the Netflix one is more interesting and bodess better for people in the business and bodess better for consumers”
“Viacom spent $16 billion on stock buybacks, which, you know, was great if you were cashing in stock options, but not so good for the long-term viability of the company”
“it's sort of like looking back and seeing your old high school on fire”
“I mean, it's true. Everybody is their own like individual broadcaster”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts, radio, news. — You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio.
One would expect a memoir from the co-founder of MTV to include quite a bit of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Tom Preston's new book gives us that and quite a bit more. from hitchhiking through a pre-Taliban Afghanistan to using a drug smuggler to get clothes from Asia to New York City tariffree to almost getting kidnapped in the Sahara desert with Jimmy Buffett to getting unceremoniously canned by Sumner Redstone.
Tom Fston Carol he has seen a lot.
Yeah, he certainly has. He's co-founder of MTV, a co-founder and the former CEO of Viacom. is also principal of the consulting and investment firm Firefly 3 and the author of a new book which we want to talk to him about. It is entitled Unplugged Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu. It came out back in November. He joins us from California. Tom, so great to have you here with us. How are you?
I'm good Carol. Hello to you and hi Tim. Nice to be here. — It's great to have you here and there's so much we want to talk about. Um we do want to just start off with the media industry because it just feels like it's at a a moment in time. I thought you were going to start with Beas and Butt.
No, I'm not. But we'll get there. We'll get there and to so much more. Um, I'm just thinking about what you witnessed, you know, at the beginning, the dawn of really the cable industry and the buildout of it. It's now being very much dismantled dismantled for a host of reasons. Some networks being sold for scraps, you know, the headlines.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- media industry
- entertainment business
- streaming wars
- warner bros discovery
- paramount netflix
Companies and tickers mentioned
- NFLX
- PARA
- Netflix
- Viacom
- Paramount Pictures
- Warner Bros. Discovery
- Skydance Media
- Firefly3
Watch the episode
Watch “MTV Pioneer on the Future of Media and Entertainment | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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