S&P: Viacom view negative

Standard & Poor's said it affirmed the BBB corporate credit rating on Viacom Inc. and changed the outlook to negative from stable.

The outlook change follows the company's plans to take charges of $400 million to $450 million in the fourth quarter for restructuring and programming writedowns.

According to S&P analyst Deborah Kinzer in a statement, "We are concerned that these charges, weak advertising demand, and potential challenges in restoring audience ratings at certain cable networks will elevate the company's leverage significantly above our target level of 3.75x on a fully adjusted basis in 2008 and potentially in 2009 also."

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