CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) and Viacom Inc. (NasdaqGS:VIAB) continue to bob along with merger talks and are now circling August 08, 2019 as an internal deadline to agree to a deal, according to people familiar with the matter. While a transaction could be announced sooner or later, than that, CBS and Viacom happen to share August 08, 2019 as the day both companies report second-quarter earnings. That makes it a natural goal post for a merger that's been speculated about for more than a year, said the people, who asked not to be named because discussions are private.

Both companies have conceptually agreed that a deal to gain scale makes sense, said the people. The price of the transaction, which will come in the form of a merger exchange ratio, hasn't been discussed and won't be addressed until all strategic and management issues are sorted out, according to people familiar with the matter. This time, the CBS and Viacom boards of directors won't reach an agreement on the exchange ratio until all other elements of a deal are set, the people said.