ENTERTAINMENT MEGA-MERGER : Biondi: ‘Glue’ for Media Colossus? : Executive: Viacom president seen as steady hand to run vast conglomerate after successful duel for Paramount.

And the winner is . . . Frank J. Biondi Jr.

If all goes according to plan, the merger of Paramount Communications, Viacom Inc. and Blockbuster Entertainment will place the 49-year-old Viacom president and chief executive at the helm of a conglomerate with a vast array of assets and combined 1992 sales of $7.4 billion--roughly equal to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. media empire.

The war for Paramount has dealt Biondi a good hand. Back in September, the chief executive’s job was promised to Paramount Chairman Martin S. Davis as part of the friendly merger agreement struck by Paramount and Viacom. But Davis had to abandon that deal in order to conduct a court-mandated auction of the company.

As Viacom searched for a way to improve its bid, Biondi suggested selling a block of stock to raise more money for the cash portion of Viacom’s tender offer. Blockbuster--already a Viacom backer--discussed buying more Viacom shares for $1.25 billion, and the talks turned to a full-scale merger.

By several accounts, it was Blockbuster’s dynamic chairman, Wayne Huizenga, who insisted that Biondi be installed as chief executive of the combine companies. And it is a decision that was hailed by the Viacom troops.

“Frank is a great boss. He’s a quick study,” said Tom Freston, the MTV Networks chairman, who was one of the old guard at Viacom promoted by Biondi. “People in Hollywood should be happy that someone like Frank Biondi is coming to oversee a studio,” Freston said.

Biondi and Viacom Chairman Sumner M. Redstone take obvious pride in their management style at Viacom, which Freston described as “very collegial, very accessible” and without “protocol.” As Freston noted somewhat wistfully, “life will never been the same” as Viacom expands from 5,000 employees to more than 40,000.

In interviews Tuesday, both Biondi and Redstone indicated they want no overnight changes at Paramount, which has had three different bosses in as many years.

Said Redstone: “Their budgets are higher than I would like, but maybe they chose to raise them to attract the talent to the lot.” Redstone said Viacom would be launching lower-budget movies to take advantage of some of its MTV and Nickelodeon characters. Despite speculation that Paramount movie chief Sherry Lansing might quit to rejoin her longtime associate, Stanley Jaffe, in an independent production company, one insider insisted Tuesday that Lansing is enjoying her job and is not a “Siamese twin.”

“We’d love for Sherry to stay.” He also praised the work of Kerry McCluggage, who heads Paramount’s television division. On the TV side, however, Viacom faces a challenge in merging its own operations with those of Paramount. Biondi said that McCluggage “is going to play a very senior role; I just don’t know yet how that’s going to configure.”

Biondi has his detractors. “I’ve never been a tremendous fan,” said the head of one entertainment firm, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “He’s a financial analyst. . . . (He’s no) Michael Eisner.”

But Freston said he has found Biondi “a fairly good judge of creative product, even of things way out of his demographic,” such as MTV characters Beavis and Butt-head.

The oldest of three sons, Biondi was born in Manhattan, but his family moved when he was young to Livingston, N.J., when his father’s job as an applied research scientist took him to the suburbs with Bell Labs. Biondi attended Catholic schools until switching to a public high school, where he made all-state baseball for two years.

A psychology major at Princeton University, Biondi went on to Harvard Business School. Not long after graduation, he was hired by entrepreneur Marshall S. Cogan, who was recruiting for his Wall Street investment firm.

Biondi worked briefly as a financial analyst for Paul Kagan, among others, before settling into a job at Children’s Television Workshop and finally, in 1978, joining Home Box Office. In 1983 he was named chief executive of HBO, but was ousted the following year. He landed on his feet with a senior job at Coca-Cola’s entertainment division, in the days when that company was snapping up motion picture and television production firms. In 1987, Biondi was recruited by Redstone to serve as Viacom’s chief executive.

At Viacom, Bioni has been “the moderating influence” for Redstone and Huizenga as they plot the merger of their companies, one insides said. “He could be the glue that keeps everything together. He’s calm; he’s solid-- even if he does take off some afternoons to play racquetball!”