Viacom doubles down on its flagship brands

Viacom announced it will increase investment in its flagship brands, which signals its efforts to assure pay TV providers, like Comcast and DirectTV, they can count on business with Viacom, per an earnings call today. The flagships include BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., and Paramount.

Quick take: This is a strategic bet for the entertainment company. Ad revenues and ratings were both down for the TV side of the company's operations, but Viacom says the diverse audiences of those six networks have ample reach and distribution potential across platforms.

Tapping into film: Viacom will be funneling those networks into its success with film — theatrical revenues grew by 104%. The six brands will contribute one or two movies to build on this strength.

How will this affect viewer experience? This will likely make it more difficult to view shows like "The Daily Show" a day after they aired on services like Hulu, per ReCode. This is because it will be turning more to pay TV providers to rake in the dough.