Viacom18

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Viacom18 Media Private Limited
IndustryTelevision
FoundedNovember 2007; 16 years ago (2007-11)
HeadquartersMumbai, Maharashtra, India[1]
Key people
Jyoti Deshpande (CEO)
OwnersNetwork 18 (73.91%)
Bodhi Tree Systems (13.08%)
Paramount Networks EMEAA (13.01%)
SubsidiariesViacom18 US
Viacom18 Media
Viacom18 Digital Ventures
Roptonal
The Indian Film Company[2]
Viacom18 Studios
JioCinema
WebsiteViacom18.com

Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an Indian media company based in Mumbai, India. Founded as a joint venture between Network18 Group—a subsidiary of Reliance Industries since 2014, and Viacom (Now Paramount Global), the Network18 Group has been the majority shareholder in the company since April 2023, with Paramount Networks EMEAA and Bodhi Tree Systems owning minority stakes.[3] It was founded in 2007 and owns various channels, as well as content production studios in India.

History[edit]

Early history and founding[edit]

In January 2010, Viacom18 went international with the launch of Colors in United States. The channel is called Aapka Colors. In July 2010, it got into 50/50 distribution joint venture with Sun Network to form Sun 18.[4]

In December 2011, Viacom18 launched Nickelodeon Sonic, targeting young adults.[5]

In January 2014, TV18 acquired the non-Telugu language TV assets of ETV Network for ₹2,053 crore, with a permission to use ETV brand name.[6]

In March 2015, Viacom18 decided to rebrand all five non-Telugu language ETV regional general entertainment channels. ETV Marathi, ETV Gujarati, ETV Kannada, ETV Bangla, and ETV Odia were rebranded into Colors Marathi, Colors Gujarati, Colors Kannada, Colors Bangla, and Colors Odia respectively.[7]

The company also owns Viacom18 Studios. On 31 January 2018, TV18 announced its acquisition of Viacom's majority in the joint venture, taking operational control and leaving Viacom with minority interest.[8] On 1 October 2019, Viacom18 launched Colors HD in Malaysia on Astro Malaysia; every serial will be served with Malay and English subtitles.[citation needed]

More recently, the company had signed a deal with the National Basketball Association in order to deliver live NBA games to all of their own networks.[9]

Attempted mergers with Sony and Zee, partnership with Bodhi Tree Systems[edit]

In June 2020, Sony's Indian unit Sony Pictures Networks India was in talks with Viacom18 about a merger, with the talks getting advanced much later. If the merger was successful, Sony would be 74% shareholder in the merged company.[10] However, in October 2020, Reliance Industries,[11] the majority share holder in Viacom18, called off the merger.[12][13]

In June 2021,[14] reports stated Viacom18 and Zee Entertainment Enterprises were reportedly in talks about a merger.[15] However, Zee denied any talks about a potential merger with Viacom18,[16] later entering talks with Sony Pictures Networks India, which was also in talks about a merger with Viacom18 earlier.[17]

In January 2022, there were reports that Lupa India, an investment company set up by Uday Shankar and James Murdoch, were in the final stages of picking up a 39% stake in Viacom18.[18] thereby turning Paramount Global into a minority shareholder with a 10% share in the company.[19] In April 2022, Reliance announced that Bodhi Tree Systems, a company founded by Shankar and Murdoch with backing from the Qatar Investment Authority,[20] would make a US$1.8 billion investment in Viacom18 to "jointly build India’s leading entertainment platform and pioneer the Indian media landscape's transformation to a ‘streaming-first’ approach." As part of the venture, JioCinema—a streaming service owned by Reliance's mobile operator Jio—would be brought under Viacom18. Paramount would remain a stakeholder and content partner. The deal was approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in September 2022.[21][22] The sale was completed on 17 April 2023, with Bodhi Tree acquiring a 13.08% stake in the venture, and diluting Paramount Global's stake to 13.01%.[23]

Owned channels[edit]

On-air channels[edit]

Following are the distribution channels available from TV18:[24]

Channel Launched Language Category SD/HD availability Notes
Colors TV 2008 Hindi General Entertainment SD+HD
Colors Rishtey 2014 SD Previously Rishtey
Colors Cineplex 2016 Movies SD+HD Formerly Rishtey Cineplex (original)
Colors Cineplex Bollywood 2021 SD
Colors Cineplex Superhits 2022 Previously Rishtey Cineplex (relaunch)
MTV 1996 Youth SD+HD Formerly MTV HD+
MTV Beats 2016 Music Formerly Pepsi MTV Indies
Sports18 Khel 2022 Sports SD
Colors Infinity 2015 English General Entertainment SD+HD
Comedy Central 2012
VH1 2005 Music
Sports18 1 2022 Sports
Nickelodeon 1999 Hindi
Tamil
Telugu
Malayalam
Bengali
Marathi
Gujarati
Kannada 		Kids SD
Nickelodeon Sonic 2011
Nick Jr. 2012 Hindi
English
Nick HD+ 2015 HD
Colors Bangla 2000 Bengali General Entertainment SD+HD Previously known as ETV Bangla
Colors Bangla Cinema 2019 Movies SD
Colors Gujarati 2002 Gujarati General Entertainment Previously known as ETV Gujarati
Colors Gujarati Cinema 2019 Movies
Colors Marathi 2000 Marathi General Entertainment SD+HD Previously known as ETV Marathi
Colors Odia 2002 Odia SD Previously known as ETV Odia
Colors Kannada 2000 Kannada SD+HD Previously known as ETV Kannada
Colors Super 2016 SD
Colors Kannada Cinema 2018 Movies
Colors Tamil Tamil General Entertainment SD+HD

Upcoming channels[edit]

Channel Launching date Language Genre Availability
Colors Next TBA Hindi GEC SD
Colors Studio English Movies
Sports18 2 November 1, 2023 Sports
Sports18 3

Other channels[edit]

Channel Launched Genre Language Notes
Colors Telugu 22 September 2019 Entertainment Telugu Only available on JioCinema

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd". Viacom18.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  2. ↑ "TV18 Broadcast Ltd (CRD)" (PDF). BSEIndia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Corporate restructure complete for India's Network18". rapidtvnews.com. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  4. ↑ "Beefing Up The Bouquet". business.outlookindia.com. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  5. ↑ "Viacom18 launches its new channel 'Sonic Nickelodeon' in India". India Infoline. 5 December 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  6. ↑ "Network18 finishes Rs 2,053-cr deal to acquire ETV stakes". The Economic Times. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  7. ↑ "ETV re-branding to Colors". Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "TV18 to increase stake to 51% in Viacom18, the JV with Viacom Inc". Viacom18. 31 January 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  9. ↑ "Viacom18 inks three-year media rights deal with NBA - Exchange4media". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  10. ↑ IANS (21 July 2020). "Sony to own 74% after merger with Viacom 18, to battle Disney Star". National Herald. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  11. ↑ "Reliance Industries calls off merger of Viacom18 with Sony". The Times of India. PTI. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  12. ↑ Jha, Lata (5 October 2020). "Sony's slated merger with Viacom18 now called off". mint. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  13. ↑ "Jio | Mukesh Ambani: With Jio in mind, Mukesh Ambani's RIL calls off merger of Viacom18, Sony". The Economic Times. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  14. ↑ Laskar, Anirudh (20 June 2021). "Viacom18 and Zee Entertainment in early merger talks". mint. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  15. ↑ "Viacom18 and Zeel eyeing a merger?". Indian Television Dot Com. 21 June 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  16. ↑ "ZEEL denies any potential merger deal with Viacom18 - Exchange4media". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  17. ↑ "ZEEL starts due diligence process for merger with Sony Pictures Networks". The Financial Express. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  18. ↑ Gupta, Surajeet Das (27 January 2022). "Uday Shankar, James Murdoch firm to pick up 39% stake in Viacom 18". Business Standard India. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  19. ↑ Laghate, Gaurav. "Uday Shankar, James Murdoch plan to pick up nearly 40% in Viacom18, Reliance to retain majority stake". The Economic Times. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  20. ↑ Ramachandran, Naman (9 February 2022). "James Murdoch, Uday Shankar Set Bodhi Tree as $1.5 Billion Qatar-Backed Media Investment Venture". Variety. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  21. ↑ Ramachandran, Naman (27 April 2022). "James Murdoch's Bodhi Tree, Reliance, Viacom18 Strike $2 Billion Deal to Create Giant Indian TV and Streaming Company". Variety. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  22. ↑ "CCI approves merger of Jio Cinema OTT with Viacom18 Media". The Economic Times. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  23. ↑ "Bodhi Tree-Viacom18 deal: Why the new deal points towards Reliance's aggressive push in broadcasting business". Business Today. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  24. ↑ "Our Channels - On Air". viacom18.com.

External links[edit]

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