Shareholders cast about 97% of their votes in support of Viacom Inc.'s (VIA) slate of directors on Thursday as the media conglomerate's top executives acknowledged shareholders' recent pain and promised future stock gains.

Viacom, which is controlled through a dual-class share structure by media mogul Sumner Redstone, saw its stock lose over half its value last year as Wall Street buckled under the U.S. mortgage crisis and the media industry grappled with threats to its longstanding business models by the rise of the Internet.

Redstone, Viacom's chairman, said the economic downturn is the worst in decades, but he said history shows that adversity breeds opportunity and that Viacom will be able to capitalize on those opportunities.

He didn't address the status of the debt restructuring at his privately held company, National Amusements Inc., which was forced to sell a portion of its non-voting stake in Viacom and CBS Corp. (CBS) last fall after its decline in value tripped loan covenants on the company debt burden.

The company recently announced it had reached an agreement with lenders on the restructuring, tamping down speculation that more stock sales are in store, and National Amusements is in the process of selling a portion of its movie-theater chain to raise cash.

Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said the company's stock declines were mainly caused by the economic downturn, but he conceded that ratings weakness at some of its cable networks as well as soft advertising revenue were also a factor.

He pointed to upcoming releases of iconic film franchises, such as Transformers, from its Paramount Pictures studio as well as the popularity of TV shows, such as South Park, as reason for optimism. He also highlighted the success of its music video game, Rock Band, saying it's a franchise that will generate profit growth over time.

Dauman and Redstone have both received criticism for their 2008 compensation packages, which included increases in take-home salary and cash bonuses for the year, as Viacom shares declined sharply. Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. gave the company an "F" grade for its compensation practices, concluding that "the company paid significantly more compensation to its top executives but performed worse than its peers."

The firm advised shareholders to withhold support for five of the company's 11 directors, including three members of its compensation committee and its chief financial officer, Thomas Dooley, saying the board's oversight of financial controls is likely to be more complicated and less rigorous with an executive in his position on the board. It noted that two of the directors served on the board of Bear Stearns & Co. prior to the investment bank's collapse last year.

Glass Lewis also noted that National Amusements controls 81.6% of Viacom's voting shares, ensuring the election of the directors with its full support.

A non-voting shareholder, Roberta Crown, was the sole questioner of the board at Thursday's meeting, asking "What are [the shareholders] getting?"

She noted that Viacom shares have only lost ground since the company was separated from CBS at the end of 2005 in a bid to rejuvenate its faltering stock price, and the company pays no dividends.

"We're building value for the long term and our shareholders will be rewarded," Dauman said. "We're outperforming the S&P 500 by a wide margin so far this year. Let's hope that continues."

Viacom shares, which are up 62% from their March low, recently traded at $23.99, down 16 cents.

-By Nat Worden, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5216; nat.worden@dowjones.com