The Soap Opera Fight Over Paramount and CBS

The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.3 • 847 Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2023

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matt is joined by James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams of The New York Times to discuss their new book, ‘Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy.’ They discuss the inside machinations that put Sumner Redstone’s daughter, Shari, on top at Paramount, how she took on Les Moonves, and how the Redstone empire fell behind Netflix and the other digital-focused entertainment companies. For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, 'What I’m Hearing ...', click this link: puck.news/thetown Email us your thoughts! [email protected] Host: Matt Belloni Guests: James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams Producer: Craig Horlbeck Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:02.8	It is Tuesday, February 14th. Happy Valentine's Day.
1:06.7	If you're a fan of Succession, you'll be interested in the Redstone family in a saga that's one of the crazier corporate dramas in the history of the media industry.
1:14.2	For those who don't know, Sumner Redstone was one of the most powerful people in entertainment until he died at age 97 in 2020.
1:22.1	Sumner controlled CBS and Viacom, which are now combined into a company called Paramount Global, run by his daughter, Sherry Redstone,
1:28.5	and they encompass Paramount Movie Studio, dozens of TV networks, the Paramount Plus streaming service,
1:34.2	books, and more. Sumner was an influential guy, and by most accounts, a total asshole. I only met him
1:39.7	once or twice at events, but he was famously ruthless, mean, he made racist comments, would throw his
1:44.9	food at waiters if he didn't like it, and was obsessed with sex and power, even into his 90s,
1:49.8	harassing many, many women. And he had a terrible relationship with his daughter, Sherry,
1:54.9	saying she was unfit to take over the company. He once called her the C word in a public
1:58.8	document, goes on and on.
	...

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