
Sumner Redstone, media mogul who headed Viacom, has died - dredmorbius
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-redstone/billionaire-sumner-redstone-media-mogul-who-headed-viacom-dead-at-97-idUSKCN2581K2
======
dredmorbius
Though it's often misattributed to Bill Gates, Sumner Redstone popularised the
phrase "content is king" which was used in a 1974 book, and pre-dates even
that.

[https://lgkmarketingcc.com/content-king-said-
better/](https://lgkmarketingcc.com/content-king-said-better/)

The book seems to be J. W. Click, Russell N. Baird, _Magazine Editing and
Production_. W. C. Brown Company, 1974, 274 pages

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/magazine-editing-and-
producti...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/magazine-editing-and-
production/oclc/1009138)

[https://books.google.com/books?id=lMpHwLnvsvAC&q="content+is...](https://books.google.com/books?id=lMpHwLnvsvAC&q="content+is+king"&dq="content+is+king"&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiwiLK2q5brAhVOK80KHdbBDu0Q6AEILTAB)

Earlier appearances in the 1960s refer to educational films:

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/toward-improved-learning-a-
co...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/toward-improved-learning-a-collection-
of-significant-reprints-for-the-medical-educator/oclc/855419713)

[https://books.google.com/books?id=LiQgAQAAMAAJ&q="content+is...](https://books.google.com/books?id=LiQgAQAAMAAJ&q="content+is+king"&dq="content+is+king"&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi87Kaoq5brAhUYCs0KHdwWC2QQ6AEIMDAB)

Aguments over provenance notwithstanding, my view is that the aphorism is a
convenient bit of stage distraction attractive to media monopolists themselves
aware of the real truth: network control is emperor.

~~~
ngold
Own the network and charge 30% tax on anyone delivering content.

~~~
dredmorbius
The vig is of course a huge part, but far from the whole story.

Central control of a network means _deciding what that network is_. Where it
begins, where it ends, what goes in, what comes out, who can receive, who can
send, what interactions are possible, speeds and latencies, what messages are
heard, what are not, who pays, who gets paid.

It's not just the vig.

Also: factors wholly ignored by contemporary US (Borkian) antitrust doctrine.

------
renewiltord
The tale of this guy and his daughter Shari Redstone's machinations to end up
in power at the giant is quite something. It was told, essentially serialized
live across the NYT or the WSJ for months¹. Honestly, it was like I was
watching some sort of soap opera. All the other players in charge were also
fighting to stay alive and hold their place and the power struggle was really
something.

I vividly remember reading the paper on BART, mostly titillated at the level
of detail, that was honestly like it was written by some sort of tabloid-
paparazzi except in the Business section. Stuff like Shari Redstone saying
something like "You know who your favourite is. It's Shari" while the senile
Sumner Redstone nodded off, and how this other contender for leadership drove
her to an event where they talked about how they'd oust this other guy.

Honestly, it was really something, and I wonder what whoever was involved was
getting out of submarining all those things in the papers. Well, anyway, all
it cemented in my head was that there were a lot of power struggles at what
eventually became ViacomCBS. Maybe they'll make a movie about it.

¹ I subscribed to both at the time, so it's hard to say now which it was.

~~~
muglug
WSJ, I believe

------
PaulHoule
He's the guy who killed the radio star. He bought MTV and within two years
they weren't showing music videos anymore.

~~~
soylentcola
I thought Viacom bought them in the mid-80's. From what I remember, they
didn't start running "reality" shows until the mid-90's and they didn't stop
showing music videos until the late-00's.

Maybe my timeline is a bit off though--my memory for pop culture stuff tends
to get a bit jumbled after 10 or 15 years.

~~~
tehwebguy
Looks like he bought Viacom which included MTV in 89

Interesting thoughts from Gideon Yago (of MTV News years back) on how
Redstone's legacy should be union busting:
[https://twitter.com/gideonyago/status/1293567900096200710](https://twitter.com/gideonyago/status/1293567900096200710)

------
dredmorbius
NYT Obit:

[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/obituaries/sumner-
redston...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/obituaries/sumner-redstone-
dead.html)

------
rurban
This is excellent news for all young actresses. He was single handedly the
worst enabler, supporting all criminal producers under his reign. Much worse
than Harvey Weinstein. #TimesUp

[https://www.crazydaysandnights.net/2018/01/four-for-
friday-i...](https://www.crazydaysandnights.net/2018/01/four-for-friday-its-
about-time-himmmm.html)

------
onetimemanytime
Did he split his fortune among his heirs or what? Very surprised to see he was
worth "only" $3 Billion. [https://www.forbes.com/profile/sumner-
redstone/#7cfbf60d4dcb](https://www.forbes.com/profile/sumner-
redstone/#7cfbf60d4dcb)

Reading about his family feud, leaving it to charity is probably a great idea
;)

~~~
ta17711771
Everything after # is a tracking code.

Power and offshore accounts are cooler than articles and lists.

