Viacom Productions Becomes Paramount

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

As part of a previously planned restructuring, Paramount Television is folding Viacom Productions into its operations.

Viacom Productions' employees will be reassigned within Paramount. Perry Simon, president of Viacom Productions, will become an independent producer at Paramount Television.

Simon has been president of Viacom Productions since September 1993 after spending 13 years at NBC.

With Paramount Television now reporting to new Viacom Co-President Leslie Moonves, changes are expected at the studio, although the move was in motion before Moonves took the helm.

Insiders expect CBS Productions also will be integrated into Paramount Television at some point.

Viacom Productions has produced such series as The WB's Sabrina the Teenage Witch, CBS' Diagnosis Murder, Showtime's Resurrection Blvd and The Chris Isaak Show and NBC's Ed.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.