Ratings have suffered across the board as viewers cancel cable subscriptions and watch shows on Hulu or Netflix. That caused Viacom's ad revenue to drop 2% in the first six months of 2012. But Osterweis believes consumers won't completely abandon cable TV. Even if they do, they'll still need to pay for content, so Viacom wins either way, in his view. Amazon, for example, has agreed to pay to stream Viacom shows. Says Osterweis: "We believe that market power remains in the hands of the content creators, no matter how distribution is organized."
NEXT: 3. Viacom has room to grow abroad
