On the Red Herring blog, Mitch Ratcliffe weighs in on the rapidly shifting competitive landscape for traditional media companies like Viacom, which recently posted a $18.4 million quarterly loss. The loss, which included a huge write-down of the company's radio assets, is nothing less than “another watershed event in the transition from old, centralized media to something new. Viacom and other media giants may play an important role in the new media landscape—they most likely will—but their valuations are going to take a beating during this process of rapid media evolution."

While companies such as Viacom believe that consolidation, cost-cutting and a re-focusing on traditional media like radio and TV will be enough to pull itself out of a financial mess, the reality may be much different, writes Ratcliffe: “Media is in flux at every level and in every niche. Viacom is easing investors into a new reality, one where highly centralized programming processes probably don't fit as comfortably as they did in the broadcast era. The retreat has only just begun, as the mobility of personalities like Howard Stern to new channels has only started, and with the talent the value will go.”