Robert Bakish, chief executive officer of Viacom International Media Networks, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. The event, which generates several hundred million euros in revenue for the city of Barcelona each year, also means the world for a week turns its attention back to Europe for the latest in technology, despite a lagging ecosystem.
Pau Barrena | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Viacom chief executive officer Bob Bakish is not worried about competition in the streaming space, on the heels of its merger with CBS.
Bakish said streaming players like Netflix are a “growth segment” for Viacom as it supplies the video streaming services directly through studio production.
“Every single one of the services that are either in the market today or are announced are doing business with us on an original production basis, so we are in clear demand,” Bakish told CNBC’s David Faber on “Squawk Alley” Tuesday.
The streaming sector is becoming a crowded space with Netflix holding large market share and other new streaming launches from Apple, Disney and HBO on the horizon. But Bakish said he is not worried about the competition as ViacomCBS is a major supplier of original content to the streaming companies like Netflix.
“We will, on closing, be the leading market leader in television audience share in the United States. That makes us a partner video distributors absolutely need to have as part of their offering,” said Bakish.
“Still the majority of the consumers in the United States are big bundle consumers,” he added.
Last month, Viacom and CBS announced the two companies would merge into ViacomCBS. Bakish will be the CEO of the combined company.
Bakish said he expects the CBS, Viacom deal to close sometime in December.