The Media Drop

In case you hadn’t heard already (which means you’re in a cave in Tora Bora), Viacom President and COO Mel Karmazin called it quits on Friday, but the news just hit this morning. I awoke after a long weekend to hear Don Imus chattering about it in the 6am hour, complemented by his usual suspect of a guest Bo Dietl saying that Infinity guy Joel Hollander would be moving on up. Well, it doesn’t look like Dietl is on the money there, but MTV’s Tom Freston and CBS honcho Leslie Moonves will be co President and COOs for the time being. No word yet on who gets what role on which days of the week, but I’m sure they will come up with a solid arrangement.

Also announced was the coming departure of chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone, who says he will be leaving within three years. Interestingly enough, Redstone considers Moonves, who has been the boss at CBS only since 2003, as leading a candidate as Freston to take over the chief executive spot. But keep on the lookout for ex-GE guy Jack Welch, who is on the hunt for a monstrosity of a company to take over.

[update: 2:28pm]: CBS MarketWatch’s Jon Friedman is pointing out this afternoon that the Moonves/Freston situation could create yet another battle for a top spot at Viacom, something that was seemingly fixed when Karmazin departed. And if you’re thinking some “white knight” might show up to take over when Redstone walks, you’re probably going to be disappointed - “Redstone said he would be “amazed” if an outsider came in to run Viacom,” according to the article, describing what the boss had to say to analysts about the future of the company.