Rich Fiscus
13 Jul 2007 5:59
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, speaking with reporters at a hotel bar at the 25th annual Allen & Co. moguls meeting, said litigation was the foundation of the company that owns the MTV Networks, Paramount movies studio and video game developer Harmonix.
"Viacom is a company built from lawsuits, look at their history," Schmidt said on early Friday.
Schmidt's comments refer to an antitrust suit Viacom filed against Time Warner Inc. in 1989 regarding their HBO cable channel, which was eventually settled out of court for $75 million and an agreement to buy a cable system from Viacomm above market value. In addition, as part of the settlement Time Warner began making the Viacom owned Showtime channel available on more Time Warner cable systems.
Viacom has demanded that YouTube takes down thousands of segments from its popular programs including The Daily Show with John Stewart, The Colbert Report and South Park.
Schmidt said the closing off of social networks was a "transient" phase and that these companies will eventually see the value of open borders.
Source: Reuters