With Viacom turning the page after the long-anticipated ouster of CEO Philippe Dauman and the temporary ascension of chief operating officer Tom Dooley to the CEO spot, all eyes are on what is next for the youth-oriented programmer.

While Dooley reaches out to investors and has vowed to work with Viacom’s board on its future organization and plans, there has been no shortage of suggestions as to where the programmer goes from here, ranging from an outright sale to a more intense focus on kids’ programming.

Dooley, a loyal lieutenant to Dauman for more than 30 years, is officially serving as interim CEO until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. While he is also in the running for the permanent spot, many analysts believe his ties to Dauman and the old Viacom regime limit his chances. As MoffettNathanson senior research analyst Michael Nathanson wrote in a blog post last week, “We wonder how much of an agent of change he will be.”

PLENTY OF CANDIDATES

Analysts have speculated about possible replacements for Dauman for months, but in the past few weeks changes at 21st Century Fox could free up two well-respected executives for the Viacom slot — co-chief operating officer Chase Carey and Jim Gianopulos, head of studio 20th Century Fox Film Corp.

Gianopulos — who some have said would give Viacom instant credibility, at least on the fi lm side — had already planned to step down at the end of the year so longtime executive Stacey Snider could take over the studio. Last week he accelerated that time frame to Sept. 1, which would make him available for the Viacom job.

Carey also could be ready for a fresh start, as Fox CEO James Murdoch and executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch have recently been flexing their muscles — they were reportedly behind the Snider appointment and have taken quick action in the sexual harassment scandal involving Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. Carey, who stayed on to help with the Murdochs’ transition, may feel that it is time to move on. He also has a stellar track record in turning around companies like DirecTV.

Other possible candidates include former The Walt Disney Co. chief operating officer Tom Staggs, who abruptly resigned in April, and former DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, who sold his company to Comcast earlier this month. Katzenberg walked away from that deal $390 million richer, mainly in the form of vested stock options, and is reportedly more interested in short-form content creation, which he feels is the future of the business.

Whoever takes Viacom’s helm will have their work cut out for them. Ratings and ad revenue has plummeted and more distributors are toying with the idea of doing without some or all of the company’s channels.

CUTTING CHANNELS

Morgan Stanley media analyst Ben Swinburne suggests that a possible turnaround path is to slash the number of Viacom channels from nearly 20 to five or six (MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET and Spike). Swinburne wrote that Viacom should also address its younger audience by drastically reducing ad loads, hold back on SVOD licensing and refocus its attention on Nickelodeon.

“In our view, Nickelodeon is the crown jewel, and has seen some content success of late on both Nick and Nick Jr.,” Swinburne wrote. “We argue building this network(s) is the key to long-term durability of the company, and Viacom may need to (at least for now) leave its content exclusive to its networks and apps.”

Viacom also should make the direct-to-consumer market a priority, Swinburne added, as the market potentially shifts to a place where consumers buy moderately priced OTT apps and bundles to serve their needs.

“For Viacom, investing in the capabilities to move DTC seems critical, perhaps prepping to offer consumers a bouquet of apps focused on kids, music, and comedy,” Swinburne wrote. “Given Viacom’s legacy target audience, it should be leading in this area, experimenting more than others with different models, not following.”

BTIG media analyst Rich Greenfield wrote that an outright sale could be a better path for Viacom shareholders, especially as it is still considering a partial sale of its Paramount Pictures movie studio.

While Viacom’s controlling shareholder, Sumner Redstone, has objected to the partial sale of Paramount, he may be open to selling the whole thing. And with some estimates putting Paramount’s value at $10 billion, it might be a better move for potential buyers to purchase the entire company — which has an enterprise value of about $27 billion — and sell off the pieces it doesn’t want.

CBS DEAL MAY NOT HELP

Greenfield also advocated for a recombination with corporate sister CBS, a move that other analysts have backed. But there is still little incentive for CBS shareholders to press for a deal.

Even Nathanson, who has called the 2006 CBS-Viacom split the biggest mistake the company ever made, can see little in deal synergies for CBS in a recombination. In his blog post, Nathanson estimated that putting Viacom and CBS back together would result in a gain of just 5.6% (or about 24 cents per share) for CBS stockholders.

“While a new CEO might look to fi x all that is wrong at Viacom, we find it hard to believe that anything will be solved until the CBS Viacom pieces are put back together again,” Nathanson wrote.

As Viacom’s controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone continues to make moves to oust the company’s board of directors, the lead independent board member, former Verizon vice chairman Fred Salerno, issued a letter to shareholders stressing that they will continue to fight in the best interests of the company.

Redstone has been setting the wheels in motion to remove the board, including his former friend and confidant executive chairman and CEO Philippe Dauman. Dauman has filed suit in Massachusetts probate court to block Redstone's actions, claiming that his daughter Shari Redstone is exerting undue influence on her father.

Related:The Philippe Phactor [subscription required]

Salerno has requested a face-to-face meeting with Sumner Redstone, but has been unable to do so. The letter, Salerno wrote, is being issued to let shareholders know what the board is thinking.

“We know that none of us is ‘entitled’ to his or her Board seat,” Salerno wrote. “But we were elected, until our terms expire or we are properly removed, to look after the interests of all the stockholders of Viacom. That is what Delaware law requires – and that is what Sumner Redstone has always expected.”

Salerno said the board believes that Redstone’s actions are out of character and inconsistent with his prior commitment to ensure that an independent board and professional management remain in place at Viacom after his death or incapacitation.

“More specifically, it would be equally inconsistent with his stated judgment for many years that his daughter, Shari, should not control Viacom or his other companies,” Salerno wrote, adding that the board faces a decision: to either fight a removal attempt or just let it happen.

“Acquiescence is appealing – it would remove some of the antagonism and public controversy, and avoid contentious and time consuming litigation,” Salerno wrote. “But to a person we feel the responsibility to challenge in court what we honestly believe would be legally flawed removals.  That is especially so because the flaw we see would be the inexplicable assertion that Sumner was acting of his own free will and with the mental competency to do so.”

Besides Salerno, Viacom’s other independent directors are: senior adviser to the chairman at the World Economic Forum Cristiana Falcone; International Finance LLC president of leadership Blythe McGarvie; Inside Edition anchor Deborah Norville; former Oracle Corp. president and current CEO of Infor Global Solutions Charles Phillips; and counsel to the law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, William Schwartz.

The remaining board members are Sumner Redstone, Shari Redstone, Dauman, attorney George Abrams and Viacom chief operating officer Thomas Dooley. Sumner Redstone controls 80% of Viacom’s vote, and could call a special meeting to remove the board, Given the size of his stake, his wishes would rule the day, save a court order declaring him incompetent.

“We will contest the purported removal if it comes, because we see that as our responsibility to the non-control shareholders of Viacom who own 90% of the equity of the company – and to the legacy of a man we greatly admire and consider a dear friend,” Salerno wrote. “We can do no less than try to make sure that the fates of Viacom, its majority equity holders and Sumner's legacy are ably represented on their behalf and impartially decided by the courts.”

It hasn’t been a good week to be Philippe Dauman.

The Viacom executive chairman and CEO is a regular target of irate shareholders who blame him for the content company’s precipitous fall over the past few years. Now, he’s even taking shots from his onetime friend and mentor, and Viacom’s largest shareholder, Sumner Redstone.

Redstone’s moves to oust Dauman and longtime Viacom board member George Abrams from the trust that will manage Redstone’s controlling stake in Viacom after his death or incapacitation has fueled mounting speculation that Dauman is being forced out.

While Dauman works hard to repair his reputation, signs point to a showdown with Redstone’s daughter and Viacom nonexecutive vice chair of the board Shari Redstone, who has been gaining influence in the trust. Lawsuits have traded back and forth: Dauman to block Redstone’s moves, Shari Redstone to have her father’s wishes upheld.

As the palace intrigue roils on, it might be time to take a closer look at Dauman’s performance by comparing his often-criticized pay package with the rise or fall of Viacom’s market capitalization over the past five years.

Related:Viacom Board Prepared to Fight

There has been much talk of Viacom’s mismanagement and how executives were more interested in cashing massive compensation checks while ignoring trends in the TV business. That is all a matter of perception, though: Few current pay TV executives could have anticipated the rise of OTT players and skinny bundles five years ago, and most didn’t.

At the same time, whether or not its youth-oriented channels make it a canary in the coal mine for the rest of the TV business, one unmistakable fact is that under Dauman and his top lieutenant, chief operating officer Tom Dooley, Viacom has faltered in the past few years.

A quick look at the stock price is evidence of that. Viacom shares are down about 25% since May 2011, shedding about $19 billion in market cap. At the same time, Dauman has received nearly $200 million in total compensation over that span and Dooley received $154 million in salary, stock-and-option awards and incentive compensation.

Since 2014, when Viacom stock was trading in the $80 range, the falloff is more dramatic. Since March 10, 2014, when Viacom shares closed at $88.90 each, the stock is down more than 50% to $39.95 on May 24, subtracting about $20 billion in market cap. Dauman and Dooley reaped a combined $145.8 million in total compensation over that period.

Dauman and Dooley aren’t the only media executives who have been criticized over their pay packages — and they aren’t even the highest paid. That distinction belongs to Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav, who has received $324.1 million in total compensation in the past five years, skewed mostly because of one-time awards in 2014 that inflated his total pay to $156 million that year. Viacom’s sister company CBS was second, with chairman and CEO Les Moonves receiving $313 million in total compensation in the past five years.

But while Disney chairman and CEO Robert Iger received $199 million in total compensation between 2011 and 2015, for instance, Disney’s market cap soared 144.6% from $41.1 billion to $100.5 billion. CBS is up 105.6% to $54.2 billion from $26.4 billion in 2011; 21st Century Fox is up 69.6% to $28.9 billion from $17.1 billion in 2011; and Discovery is up 23% to $26.8 billion from $21.8 billion in 2011. Viacom’s market cap has fallen from about $35 billion in 2011 to $16.7 billion as of May 25.

Whatever the outcome, some analysts believe Dauman’s days are numbered. In a research note last week, Telsey Advisory Group media analyst Tom Eagan charted out several scenarios that ultimately end with Dauman’s ouster.

In a piece titled “Jersey Shore Has Nothing on This,” Eagan noted board changes at Viacom and National Amusements (the vehicle that holds Redstone’s Viacom stock). “We expect that Sumner and Shari Redstone will attempt to make changes in Viacom executive management, chiefly replacing CEO and chairman Phillippe Dauman,” Eagan wrote. “Although Mr. Dauman has the support of the Viacom board, we expect changes in that board.”