Global media co Viacom and CBS Corporation have each established special committees to evaluate a potential merger.

While conversations are taking place, a statement from each company reiterated that there is no guarantee that this process will end in a transaction or on what terms any deal may happen.

No comment will be made further by either Viacom or CBS until the committee until the process is completed.

The talks of a Viacom/CBS deal comes on the heels of big-name mergers in the past year with Discovery closing a deal to acquire Scripps for US$14.6 billion and the Walt Disney Company agreeing to purchase Twenty-First Century Fox for approximately US$52.4 billion.

Viacom and CBS merged in 1999 in a deal that was then worth US$35.6 billion and remained one company until 2006, until Sumner Redstone, the founder and major shareholder of Viacom, split the two entities into Viacom and CBS Corporation.

In 2016, there were discussions of merging CBS with Viacom but a deal did not come to fruition.

Viacom’s media networks, headed by CEO Bob Bakish (pictured) include Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, VH1, TV Land, CMT, Logo, Channel 5 (UK), Telefe (Argentina), Colors (India) and Paramount Channel. The networks combined reach about 4.3 billion television subscribers worldwide.

CBS owns one of the world’s largest libraries of entertainment content. CBS’ businesses include CBS Television Network, The CW (a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment), Network Ten Australia, CBS Television Studios, Showtime Networks and more.