Viacom (NYSE: VIA), a media business that competes with Disney (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, and Sony (NYSE: SNE), doesn't have a lot to brag about in its third quarter. Revenue went up only 4%. Adjusted earnings fell 15% to $0.55, beating expecations by a penny. But I doubt that's much comfort in this particular case, considering that operating income at the company's media networks division dipped 4%, and an operating loss was reported for the studio division due to difficult comparisons (i.e., Transformers helped the year-ago quarter).

Like clockwork, Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone praised Viacom's content and fully supported CEO Philippe Dauman. Maybe Redstone should take a strong look at Viacom and sit the CEO down and have a serious discussion with him about the realities of entertainment programming. Right now, MTV is suffering from ratings challenges. Dauman has to step up his game in this regard.

I mean, come on, MTV is a powerful brand with the youth, and he needs to lean on the folks running it to work harder and become more innovative and creative. I will say that I liked that the earnings release mentioned a desire to engage better cost controls at its studio division. Paramount definitely needs to lower overhead expenses. Hollywood likes to spend money; shareholders most certainly do not. So I think Redstone should aggressively make this clear to Dauman.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Viacom (NYSE: VIA) really wants to keep Steven Spielberg in its studio roster.

The media company is due to make some righteous bucks from Spielberg and his new Indiana Jones flick, which is set to hit theaters in a couple months. CEO Philippe Dauman wants to correct any missteps he made in his relationship with the extremely famous and powerful director after perhaps not singling out his importance as much as he should have in comments made at a conference last year.

I'm a big fan of Steven Spielberg; the man definitely knows how to make money. But, I do have to confess that, when it comes to chasing big, expensive stars, I think CEOs of studios must consider two things: 1) success in the movie industry is so random that every project represents extreme risk, no matter who is attached; 2) it is the deal that matters most; or, put another way, it is the return on invested capital that must be chased, not the celebrity of a certain individual. Say what you want about Disney (NYSE: DIS) and its movie-making ways, but keep in mind that the company does focus on ROIC, to its credit.

Sumner Redstone's had a little upheaval in recent weeks. First, he had to *fire* megastar Tom Cruise from Paramount Studios since the movie star's recent antics and erratic public behavior has made him a little less appealing to major studios. Although Cruise's agency says the star *fired* Paramount, everyone has super-inflated egos to protect.

Now, Redstone's lost the CEO of the company he chairs, Viacom. Former CEO Tom Freston -- one of the founders of MTV -- has resigned as of today, according to Viacom. He has been replaced already by industry veteran Philippe Dauman, who has held various executive positions as Viacom in recent years, and who heads up DND Capital Partners, LLC, a media and entertainment investment firm. No word on the specific reasons why (yet), but at 60, perhaps Freston just felt it was time.

Along with Dauman, Viacom also named Thomas E. Dooley to the newly created position of senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Dooley also co-heads the DND Capital Partners firm with Dauman, so this pair of executives should be able to aptly take the reigns of Viacom, which owns various media properties like MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and the Paramount movie studio, and competes with industry giants like Sony and Time Warner, among others.