Showtime

Three and a half years ago, I had an e-reader unwillingly thrust upon me.  I ignored it at first; shunned it.  Then one day I was packing for a long trip and it came on me in a flash that if I used the damned thing I wouldn’t have to limit myself to five pounds of books in my luggage. Since then I read more ebooks than physical books. I buy a lot more books, too. Last year I noticed that books were getting cheaper, but the writing was getting worse.

Viacom Inc. rang in the New Year with the announcement that it officially completed its division into two publicly traded entities—CBS Corp. and “New” Viacom Inc.—plans for which the company had announced in June 2005. Simon & Schuster, the company’s publishing arm and an international publisher of books and multimedia products that publishes some 2,000 titles annually, is now a property of CBS Corp., along with CBS Television Network, UPN, Infinity Broadcasting, Viacom Outdoor, Viacom Television Stations Group, Paramount Television, King World, Showtime and Paramount Parks. New Viacom will own MTV Networks (which includes Nickelodeon, VH1, Country Music Television and TV Land, among others),