Welcome to the blob. Please watch your step.

January 17, 2001 2:56 PM

Welcome to the blob. Please watch your step. It looks like Viacom's going to swallow up Yahoo! and all its assorted properties. What does this leave untouched, by partnerships or redistribution deals or what-have-you? Anything? (Who was it again who was predicting that one large company that controlled everything called Omnivox? I remember reading about it somewhere when I was, like, ten or so.)
posted by maura (11 comments total)

no. no. Please, please say it ain't so. No. No. Good golly no. One more time: no.

I like Yahoo!. I use 'em often, daily even. But, this would fall in like with Viacom's slogan of "We own everything."

Now, you see, get Microsoft, AOLTW, and Viahoo! together, and you've got something Omnivox like.
posted by hijinx at 3:00 PM on January 17, 2001

Hmm, if they're really going to control everything, I guess these guys have a long way to go. Or maybe it's the French. Who knew?
posted by grimmelm at 3:01 PM on January 17, 2001

there's a mention of a media-megalith here (reprinted here) (do a control-f (or comand-f) and search the page for omnivox).
posted by mathowie at 3:43 PM on January 17, 2001

Oh thank God it wasn't Disney. Oh thank God it wasn't Disney. Oh thank God it wasn't Disney.
posted by aaron at 4:23 PM on January 17, 2001

During the cbs merger I found a useful graphic showing all the properties Viacom does own. I couldn't find it online, so I re-posted my saved image (apologies to the creator)

Here it is [105k]


posted by buddha9090 at 6:12 PM on January 17, 2001

Behold, the Columbia Journalism Review master list of who owns what. Looking at Viacom's entry, the thing I'm most struck by is the number of radio stations they own. Small wonder there are a number of community and micropower radio advocates on the web.
posted by snarkout at 6:41 PM on January 17, 2001

Are you possibly thinking of Kurt Vonnegut and the RAMJAC Corporation?
posted by hootch at 9:06 PM on January 17, 2001

There was definitely an Onion story about an all-inclusive media conglomerate, perhaps a year ago during the AOL-TW hype period, perhaps older. Server's down right now, though.
posted by dhartung at 10:59 PM on January 17, 2001

Snarkout, that list is making me cry.
posted by solistrato at 8:15 AM on January 18, 2001

Welcome to my world, Solistrato.
posted by snarkout at 9:31 AM on January 18, 2001

Dan, you may be thinking of this Onion article on the topic, published a few years ago. Although undoubtedly there have been others.

"MCI-WorldCom and Bank One-Chase Manhattan merged in a blockbuster $112 billion deal Monday, forming the world's largest telecommunications/banking company and reducing the number of existing corporations to six.

....Bill Clinton, chief executive of U.S. Government, a division of MCI-WorldCom, praised Monday's merger as 'an excellent move.'"
posted by daveadams at 11:30 AM on January 18, 2001