As far as mergers and acquisitions go, the CBS-Viacom merger is one of the most anticipated and long-awaited reunions in the entertainment industry.
This is of course in response to aggressive expansion of its competitors such as Disney whose recent acquisition of several assets from Fox is laying the groundwork for major blockbuster hits in TV and film.
With the merger, several franchises and other intellectual properties could pave the way for expansion of the shows' respective universes and exploring further the stories of beloved characters.
Huge action franchises like “Mission: Impossible” and “Transformers” from Paramount Pictures could explore new origin stories or exploit quirky side-characters for streaming series on the CBS over-the-top platform All Access. All Access is also currently building out the “Star Trek” TV universe, with three shows under the franchise’s umbrella set to be on the streaming service in 2020.
Signs of synergy are already cropping up as well. CBS, which owns the TV licensing rights to “Star Trek,” gave its blessing for a cartoon take on the sci-fi classic at Nickelodeon this year.
Of course, all of this can only happen if the merger will be approved. So we'll have to wait and see what comes next.
-via Pop Culture Brain
(Image credit: Alexei Vella/Variety)