Wall Street has picked up on rumours that CBS boss Leslie Moonves has recently visited Japan and held talks with Sony bosses about bringing media production powerhouse Sony Pictures Television (SPTV) into his CBS media conglomerate.  CBS is denying that a Sony-related visit took place.

The rationale is that while an expected ‘merger’ between CBS and Viacom is not now expected to happen, CBS is sniffing around SPTV assets, especially with further rumours that following years of denying that SPTV would ever be sold, it seems that Sony president and CREO Kazuo Hirai might now be open to an offer.

SPTV produces plenty of content for CBS, and its US network rivals. Shows such as The Blacklist, Better Call Saul, Bloodline and long-running soaps such as Days of Our Lives all flow from its Culver City studio base. Outside the US, SPTV has a network of 18 wholly-owned and joint venture production companies. Operating in France, Italy, UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Egypt, Lebanon, Dubai, Brazil, Colombia and China.

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