Viacom and the 2008 FEC election cycle

Viacom crossed with 2008

Employer groupings sit on one axis; election cycles sit on the other. Rows that match both — Viacom and 2008 — sum to $414,975. The cell holds 299 itemized contributions and 95 unique donors. The total is not an official organization disbursement and does not name recipients. Independent expenditures and committee transfers live in other FEC tables.

Neither the Viacom hub nor the 2008 election cycle hub is this number; each hub drops one of the two keys. Ninety-five donors and 299 lines in 2008 sit under the one-word Viacom brand. Corporate reorganizations after 2008 do not recode this historical cell. Successor labels keep their own cycle pages. This join reports the stored 2008 string only. VIACOM INC, CBS, PARAMOUNT, and MTV or other brand strings that filers might type instead of Viacom are other keys if stored separately.

9.6% of the Viacom roll

The grouping’s stored total across cycles is $4,344,777 ($4.3 million). The 2008 slice of $414,975 is about 9.6% of that running sum. Other even-year windows hold the remaining 90.4%. Treating 2008 as the Viacom FEC story would ignore that remainder.

Treat $4,344,777 as the denominator for the 9.6% share. It is not market capitalization, not revenue, and not proof of a multi-year political program. The industry hub is the year index for this string. This tie keeps 2008 from being folded silently into $4,344,777.

299 contributions from 95 donors

Dividing $414,975 by 299 contributions yields about $1,388 per itemized gift. Dividing by 95 donors yields about $4,368 per donor. Contributions per donor average about 3.1. Those means describe the arithmetic on the packet. They are not medians and not a party split.

95 unique donors are contributor identities, not a headcount of employees, licensees, or members. Retirees and household members who reuse a workplace or title can appear. Repeat gifts raise the contribution count faster than the donor count. The overlay for Viacom 2008 holds the rows.

2008 as the cycle dimension

The 2008 election cycle hub includes every stored employer for that window. Viacom is one cell in that matrix. This packet does not publish a cycle-wide denominator, so no national share is stated. Open the 2008 election cycle to drop the employer filter and Viacom to drop the year.

Gifts from both years of the two-year FEC window sit in the $414,975 cell because the cycle is a two-year tag, not a single Tuesday. That mechanical fact is easy to forget when a searcher wants an election-night number. The overlay is where dates become visible. This join publishes the cycle total, the 299 contributions, the 95 unique donors, and the 9.6% share of $4,344,777.

Limits of the Viacom × 2008 join

Itemized individual receipts are the universe. Unitemized gifts, independent expenditures, and PAC disbursements sit outside $414,975. Federal awards in other databases are different datasets. Sharing an employer string and a calendar year does not turn these gifts into contracts or grants. The page is not a media-sector NAICS total and not a Viacom PAC.

Correlation between an employer or occupation string and a cycle year is not causation. The records show a text match, a date window, 95 donors, and 299 contributions. VIACOM INC, CBS, PARAMOUNT, and MTV or other brand strings that filers might type instead of Viacom are other keys if stored separately. All FEC ties lists other two-dimension pages.

Citing Viacom and 2008 together

Start with $414,975, then Viacom 2008 for rows, then the industry hub or the 2008 election cycle if a filter needs to come off. Citation template: Viacom, 2008, $414,975, 299 contributions, 95 donors, 9.6% of $4,344,777, source FEC.gov. Keep neighboring spellings and occupation titles out of the total unless they grouped to this exact string.

The 9.6% share, the 95-donor count, and the $1,388 mean gift belong to this intersection. Carry them onto a successor label or a sibling occupation word and they stop being facts from this packet. This prose is a packet snapshot. If a later extract disagrees, FEC.gov and the live overlay control.

Questions

How much did Viacom donors give in 2008?

FEC.gov aggregates show $414,975 in itemized individual contributions for the Viacom grouping in the 2008 cycle, across 299 contributions and 95 donors. That sum is not a PAC total and not the $4,344,777 all-cycle figure.

What share of Viacom FEC money is 2008?

The grouping’s all-cycle total is $4,344,777. The 2008 cell of $414,975 is about 9.6% of that figure. Other cycles hold the remaining 90.4% on the industry hub. The overlay lists itemized rows for this cell; the Viacom hub holds other cycles; the 2008 election cycle hub holds other employer strings from the same window.

Is this Viacom’s PAC or an official account?

No. $414,975 is itemized individual receipts whose employer or occupation text grouped to Viacom. Committee PAC filings and official organization accounts sit outside this rollup unless an individual receipt itself carries the string. The key is not a media-sector NAICS total and not a Viacom PAC.

Where is the overlay for the Viacom 2008 join?

Open Viacom 2008 for the cycle overlay, Viacom for the grouping hub, and the 2008 election cycle for the year without this employer filter. All FEC ties lists other two-dimension pages. This JSON file names the join; the overlay holds the itemized rows.