What if ViacomCBS was founded in 2000?

In 1999, Viacom made its biggest acquisition to date by announcing plans to merge with its former parent CBS Corporation. The merger was completed in May 2000, bringing CBS Cable's channels TNN (now Paramount Network) and Country Music Television (CMT) under Viacom's MTV Networks wing, as well as CBS's production units and TV distributors Eyemark Entertainment (formerly Group W Productions) and King World under the main wing.

In March 2005, the company announced plans of looking into splitting into two publicly traded companies under the continuing ownership of National Amusements because of a stagnating stock price. The internal rivalry between Les Moonves and Tom Freston, longtime heads of CBS and MTV Networks respectively, and the controversy of Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, which resulted in MTV being banned from producing any more Super Bowl halftime shows, were also seen as factors. After the departure of Mel Karmazin in 2004, Redstone, who served as chairman and chief executive officer, decided to split the offices of president and chief operating officer between Moonves and Freston. Redstone was set to retire in the near future, and a split would be a creative solution to the matter of replacing him.

The split was approved by Viacom's board on June 14, 2005, and took effect on January 3, 2006, and effectively reversed the Viacom-CBS merger of 1999. The existing Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation (thus restoring its pre-merger name) and was headed by Moonves. It was intended to include Viacom's slower-growing business, namely CBS, The CW (a merger of UPN and The WB), CBS Radio (since sold to Entercom on November 17, 2017), Simon & Schuster (to be sold to Penguin Random House), CBS Outdoor (formerly Viacom Outdoor), Showtime Networks, CBS Television Studios, CBS Television Distribution and CBS Studios International.

In addition, CBS Corporation was given Paramount Parks, which it later sold to amusement park operator Cedar Fair on June 30, 2006, and the CBS College Sports Network, now known as the CBS Sports Network.

Additionally, a spun-off company was created that took the Viacom name, which was headed by Freston. It comprised MTV Networks, BET Networks, Paramount Pictures, and Paramount Pictures' home entertainment operations. These businesses were categorized as the high-growth businesses. National Amusements continued to be the controlling shareholder of the two companies formed after the split. In September 2006, Redstone fired Freston and named Philippe Dauman as the head of Viacom.

On August 13, 2019, CBS and Viacom officially announced their re-merger deal; the combined company would be called ViacomCBS, with Bob Bakish as president and CEO and Shari Redstone as the chairwoman of the new company. On December 4, 2019, the deal was completed.

But what if ViacomCBS was formed in May 2000 instead of December 4, 2019.

This theory is interconnected to What if DreamWorks Pictures was founded in 1980 as The Geffen Film Company?

List of changes

 * It will be known as ViacomCBS Corporation (2000-2019), ViacomCBS, Inc. (2019-2022) & Paramount Global (2022-present)
 * While CBS and Paramount's television production units would still merge with each other, the combined unity would keep the CBS Paramount Television and CBS Paramount Domestic Television names, rebranding later to CBS Paramount Television Studios and CBS Paramount Television Distribution.
 * Viacom and CBS won't demerge in 2006?
 * ViacomCBS would acquire Lionsgate in February 2006.
 * After the acquisition of Lionsgate, Artisan Entertainment will be revived.
 * ViacomCBS would acquire DreamWorks Pictures library that was produced by Paramount Pictures, MTV Films & Nickelodeon Movies on May 8, 2006.
 * CBS Films wouldn't likely exist, with its films being produced and distributed by Paramount.
 * Epix wouldn't exist.
 * Paramount+ would launch in 2007 as ViacomCBS All Access.