Mel Karmazin is resigning as president of Viacom. The CEO, Sumner Redstone, is stepping down in a few years as well.
Mel Karmazin resigned Tuesday as president and chief operating officer of Viacom Corp., one of the nation's largest and most successful media conglomerates.The company also announced that Chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone, the company's largest shareholder, has indicated that he will relinquish his role as CEO within three years.
The media conglomerate named Leslie Moonves, the chairman and CEO of Viacom unit CBS, and Tom Freston, the chairman and CEO of Viacom's MTV cable networks, as co-presidents and co-chief operating officers.
There has been a power struggle the last few years at Viacom, ever since Infinity, CBS, and Viacom became one. This is interesting to us because of the role Karmazin plays in defending Howard Stern. As we all know, the FCC has aggressively cracking down on broadcasters since Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction." And Howard Stern is in the crosshairs. Karmazin has pledged to stand behind Stern, no matter how much in fines Infinity has to pay.
Think whatever you want about Howard, but he has become a very vocal proponent of liberal issues and a very staunch opponent of President Bush. Not a day goes by without Howard ranting about Bush leading us down the wrong path. So if Karmazin's exit from Viacom means anything, it could be detrimental to the fight against the FCC.