In an article entitled Panning for fool's gold in China?, CNN looks at Viacom's new deal with Beijing Television:

Between the ongoing turmoil at CBS News and stiff fines for Janet Jackson's breast-baring incident, there was ample reason for Sumner Redstone to stick close to home this week.

Instead, the chairman of the big media company Viacom was hobnobbing with business and political leaders in China, something Redstone and his rivals have been doing a lot of in recent years.

For Viacom, the trip paid off. On Friday the company announced a deal with Beijing Television to jointly develop music and other entertainment content.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Just after inking the Beijing TV deal, Redstone went to Hong Kong for Forbes magazine's annual Global CEO Conference, where he gave a speech that was reported in the Wall Street Journal's opinion pages:

Mr. Redstone declared: "I look at the election from what's good for Viacom. I vote for what's good for Viacom. I vote, today, Viacom.

"I don't want to denigrate Kerry," he went on, "but from a Viacom standpoint, the election of a Republican administration is a better deal. Because the Republican administration has stood for many things we believe in, deregulation and so on. The Democrats are not bad people. . . . But from a Viacom standpoint, we believe the election of a Republican administration is better for our company."

CNN's story on Viacom and Beijing TV is here, the Wall Street Journal's piece is here.