We all know that over-the-air (OTA) television is not the phenomenon it once was. The days of settling in to watch Jack Benny on Saturdays at 8 and knowing you’re sharing that moment with millions of Americans are gone. But some believe that Paramount’s (NASDAQ:PARA) sale—assuming it ever goes through—may spell the end for OTA operations entirely. As a result, investors sent shares of the media giant down nearly 1.5% in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
With the loss of a Skydance deal, once again, there are plenty of questions left and very few answers. Some are not even particularly sure if the company is actually up for sale at any price. With lawsuits already prepared from other high-value stakeholders, any move Paramount makes on this front now will be closely watched. And with Paramount now worth a fraction of what it once was, any future deals may not be quite as lucrative either.
Some are wondering at this point if small-scale station group owners, like Gray, Tegna, or Nexstar, might get together to pose their own offer for at least the CBS part, and regardless of how it comes out, both Disney (NYSE:DIS) and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) will be watching closely to see how to potentially dispose of their own legacy components in ABC and NBC.
MTV News’ Website Is Gone
In a further sign that something is happening behind the scenes at Paramount, MTV News’ website is gone. Paramount shuttered MTV News around a year ago, but the site was still up and, with it, about 20 years’ worth of music history. However, the archives—which went all the way back to 1996—were still available. That’s no longer the case, and former staffers are expressing their loss on various social media outlets.
Is Paramount a Good Stock to Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Sell consensus rating on PARA stock based on two Buys, seven Holds, and nine Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 33.36% loss in its share price over the past year, the average PARA price target of $11.68 per share implies 15.19% upside potential.
