Another Redstone Enters the Picture

A few years ago, Paula Redstone was teaching third grade. Now she’s going back to school -- at two of the TV networks run by her husband, billionaire Sumner Redstone.

An entertainment neophyte who married Redstone in 2003, the former Paula Fortunato, 43, has lately been studying the business by spending a few days a week in the Los Angeles offices of UPN and Nickelodeon, two networks in the sprawling Viacom Inc. empire controlled by her 83-year-old husband.

A source familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the former educator described her activities as “auditing� -- as in sitting in on a college class.

Insiders said she was attending “pitch meetings,� where writers and producers propose program ideas to network executives.

On Wednesday, a company spokesman said that Paula Redstone was “listening and observing� -- and was not being paid.

“Paula is not employed in any Viacom business,� said Viacom spokesman Carl Folta. “Having worked 13 years as a schoolteacher she has a great interest in spending her time constructively and wants to learn about the entertainment business.�

Paula Redstone’s “listening and observing� has raised eyebrows -- and speculation -- about what, if anything, her new visibility may mean.

Next year, Viacom will split in two, with co-President Tom Freston controlling Paramount Pictures, MTV, Nickelodeon and other cable networks under the aegis of a “new� Viacom, while co-President Leslie Moonves will oversee the broadcast operations and outdoor advertising business under an entity called CBS Corp.

Sumner Redstone, however, is expected to retain ultimate oversight of both companies after the split.

It has generally been assumed that if Redstone ever gave up control of the company, his daughter, Shari Redstone, a Viacom board member and president of the family’s National Amusements theater chain, would assume a more prominent role at the media conglomerate.

As part of the split, Redstone, who still controls about 70% of Viacom’s voting shares, is expected to give up his title as chief executive to Moonves and Freston.

Redstone also will relinquish his corporate staff, and some of those most loyal to him may not find an executive slot at either of the new companies.

As a result, some close to him say, Redstone will have fewer sources of information on the inside other than Moonves and Freston.

Several Viacom executives, who did not want to be identified, dismissed the idea that Redstone could be positioning his wife to be his eyes and ears at the company.

They said that whatever information Redstone’s wife could glean from development meetings and pitch sessions would be of little use to him, or would merely duplicate what he already knew.

They also said Paula Redstone’s curiosity about Viacom should not be misinterpreted as a challenge to Shari Redstone.

Paula Redstone “is living with somebody who eats, sleeps and breathes entertainment,� one of the Viacom executives said. “She spends her entire life with people who are talking about the business. She wants to be part of the conversation.�

According to sources, Sumner Redstone asked Freston and Moonves to create an opportunity for his wife to help her learn about the company he had built brick by brick.

Neither Sumner nor Paula Redstone was available to comment.

The daughter of a New Jersey cardiologist and the younger sister of sports model Sondra Fortunato, Paula Redstone gave up her job as a teacher in Manhattan to marry the mogul in 2003, shortly after he divorced his first wife, Phyllis.

People who know her describe her as a television aficionado with a special fondness for the ‘80s sitcom “The Golden Girls.�

One corporate governance expert called Paula Redstone’s activities uncommon for a publicly held company.

“In a privately held company, a family company, that sort of relationship might be fairly common,� said Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “But in a public company ... it does strike me as somewhat unusual.�

Although it’s not uncommon for wives (and increasingly husbands) of senior executives to turn up around the office, Elson added, the Viacom arrangement seems to go beyond the casual spousal involvement often seen elsewhere.