He added that the company is still on track to conclude is bidding process for Paramount by the end of June. Viacom has seen "strong interest from around the world" to take a minority stake in Paramount, he said. Earlier on Thursday, Viacom reported that its financials continued to slip in the company's latest quarter, but strength from movies like "The Big Short" and a boost from licensing to online video services helped its bottom line from falling as far as Wall Street expected. Also on the call, Dauman said the money Viacom makes from pay-TV companies and other distributors should improve next year now that it has renewed a meaningful contract with Dish, but the increase will be just a few percentage points. Viacom expects affiliate fees — the money it gets from distributors like Dish — will grow at mid-single-digit rates in its 2017 fiscal year, which begins in October. That's slightly better than its guidance for the current year, which it reiterated Thursday is for low-mid-single-digit growth.