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Sure, Viacom's had a pretty tumultuous year, with enough layoffs, tear-soaked executive shitcannings, high-profile pissing matches between superannuated overlords drunk on power and the overpaid, fading megastars who test their patience, and random on-lot conflagrations to test the morale of even the most slavishly dedicated drone. But that's precisely why a heartfelt, year-ending memo from the corporation's new CEO (you know, the person who replaced the guy who everybody loved) is so important: Without a well-spun accounting of all the things that went right within the faceless multimedia corporation (15 Golden Globe nominations! The launch of a bilingual music channel targeting bicultural Hispanics! Other stuff!) and an obligatory expression of thanks for hard work manifested mainly in stock price fluctuations, employees might be sent off to their holiday vacations thinking only about the turmoil of the past 12 months. After the jump, New Fearless Leader Phillipe Dauman's 2006-capping note to his charges (forwarded to us by someone who wants us all to feel like we're part of the corporate family), which is sure to send his little Viacommies to their brief hiatus pumping their fists and ready for the fresh challenges of the New Year.

TO: All Viacom Employees

FROM: Philippe Dauman

DATE: December 21, 2006

It has been quite a year.

So, as 2006 draws to a close, I want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for your hard work and to recognize the effort and dedication that you bring to the Company every day.

We continue to create top quality entertainment and to find new and innovative ways of engaging our audiences. Those successful efforts were in great evidence throughout Viacom this year, as we continued to enhance our leading positions in many important markets across all media. All of us are involved in a truly revolutionary and exciting transition as we build our leadership on our traditional screens and secure a primary position on the digital frontier, including the internet, where we already attract more unique visitors across our sites than any other entertainment entity. We have only just begun.

At BET Networks, Debra Lee and her team delivered on the promise of their new and growing original programming agenda, adding hit shows like Lil' Kim: Countdown to Lockdown, Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is, DMX:Soul of a Man, and the critically and popularly acclaimed new series, American Gangster. The success of these new shows builds on the continuing vitality of important television events like the 2006 BET Awards, which had record-breaking ratings and became the number one cable telecast of all time among African-Americans. BET Networks also continued to execute on their digital strategy and took full ownership of BET.com, the leading online media site for African-American content.

MTV Networks broadened its reach across all platforms in 2006 under the direction of Judy McGrath and her team. We made great progress in continuing to grow our many core brands while expanding the diversity of our programming and our channels by, for example, launching MTV Tr3s, a bilingual music channel targeting bicultural Hispanics in the U.S., and MTV K, which connects with Korean-American audiences. Comedy Central's Lil' Bush is the first mobile-only show to become a TV series, and The Daily Show and The Colbert Report continue to be huge hits for the network. MTV engaged viewers in unprecedented ways with innovative shows like Two-A-Days and Laguna Beach. VH1 broke records on TV, mobile and online with Flavor of Love 2. Logo, MTV2, mtvU, The N, and Noggin brought new compelling content, of which we can all be very proud, to their audiences.

CMT, Spike TV and TV Land all unveiled impressive new broadband sites and Nickelodeon, the number one basic cable network for 11 years straight, successfully re-launched TurboNick, which has generated more than 262 million streams this year. Over the last couple of months we created the MTVN Entertainment Group to build even deeper, more meaningful connections with our adult audiences. MTVN tapped new leaders, including a new head of Global Digital Media, to accelerate our progress in this next phase. On the international front, MTV Flux UK married broadband, interactivity and television for the first time and created an entirely new entertainment experience, while innovative web sites such as MTV Boombox and LAZONA continued to extend our multiplatform leadership around the world. MTVN also welcomed dynamic new digital businesses into our family this year - from Atom Entertainment and Harmonix to Y2M and Xfire. And, as we look to promising new growth areas, we are reorganizing ourselves to efficiently capture every opportunity and dazzle our consumers.

With more than 125,000 copyrights and an impressive list of artists in its rapidly expanding library, Famous Music continues to make its mark on the world of music publishing. Among the highlights for Irwin Robinson and his team this year was the signing of hit songwriter/artist Daniel Powter ("Bad Day") and the launch of the company's new website. Also this year, Famous Music artist Shakira swept the Latin Grammy Awards, winning Record and Song of the Year, and in the just announced Grammy nominations, Famous artists - including Akon, Linda Perry and Shakira - received seven nods.

With a record-breaking 15 Golden Globe nominations, our Paramount team, under the leadership of Brad Grey, is back on a winning path. The studio brought several hits to the screen this year, with a varied slate that ranged from the popular "Jackass: Number Two" and "Nacho Libre," to the powerful and critically acclaimed "World Trade Center," "Babel," and "An Inconvenient Truth," the third highest grossing documentary of all time. In addition to the new specialty division, Paramount Vantage, the Paramount Motion Picture Group is reaching a broad spectrum of the motion picture market with a multi-label portfolio that includes films from Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Paramount Classics, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies - and soon, BET Films. We're closing out 2006 and moving into 2007 with an excellent film lineup that features "Charlotte's Web" and "Dreamgirls," two films that are being well-received by critics and moviegoers alike, and new production deals with some of the best talent in the business. In addition, next month Paramount will launch its own international distribution arm, Paramount Pictures International, which will help us take advantage of the growing markets for motion picture product around the world.

Viacom's corporate employees made significant contributions that fueled our progress in 2006. We have created a corporate organization that has the expertise to handle every important area, from human resources to financial reporting, and the capability to keep Viacom in the forefront of the media industry. Under Tom Dooley's leadership, working closely with our divisions, they will provide the impetus and the support we need to navigate the changes ahead.

We have what it takes to tackle every creative, strategic, financial and operational challenge. The coming year will be a great one for this organization and for our shareholders as we move rapidly into the digital age and continue to create a strong and successful future built on the magnificent foundation of our great brands, our world-class entertainment content and, most importantly, the incredible people who work at this company. I am proud to be here.

Best wishes to you and your families for a happy, restful and healthy holiday season.