Viacom18
 | |
| Type | Joint venture |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television |
| Founded | November 2007 |
| Headquarters | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India[1] |
Key people | Rahul Joshi (CEO) |
| Owners | TV18 (Network18 Group) (51%) Paramount Global (49%) |
| Subsidiaries | Viacom18 US Viacom18 Media Roptanol Sports18 The Indian Film Company[2] Viacom18 Studios |
| Website | Viacom18.com |
Viacom 18 Media Private Limited is an Indian joint venture operation between TV18 and Paramount Global based in Mumbai.[3] It was founded in November 2007 and owns various channels of Paramount, as well as various consumer products in India.
History[edit]
MTV Networks India was founded when MTV ended its 5-year contract with Disney Star. At that time, Nickelodeon, VH1 were also launched in India. In 2007, Network18 through its television broadcasting unit, acquired a stake. In 2008, a Hindi GEC channel, Colors TV was launched.
In January 2010, Viacom 18 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, Viacom 18 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]
The Network18 group was acquired by Mukesh Ambani led conglomerate Reliance Industries in 2014.
In March 2015, Viacom 18 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, Viacom 18 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]
In 2022, it launched a dedicated sports channel called Sports18. Earlier, the two major players were Star Sports and Sony. It may also bid for the broadcasting rights for Indian Premier League for the 2023-27 cycle, which were earlier owned by Disney Star. Apart from cricket, The 2022 FIFA World Cup, La Liga and BWF World Championships are some other majors.
Channels and platforms[edit]
On-air channels[edit]
Following are the distribution channels available from Viacom18:[10]
| Channel | Launched | Language | Category | SD/HD availability | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colors TV | 2008 | Hindi | General Entertainment | SD+HD | |
| Colors Rishtey | 2014 | SD | |||
| Colors Cineplex | 2016 | Movies | SD+HD | ||
| Colors Cineplex Bollywood | 2021 | SD | |||
| Colors Cineplex Superhits | 2022 | ||||
| MTV | 1996 | Youth | SD+HD | ||
| MTV Beats | 2014 | Music | |||
| Sports 18 Khel[11] | 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 Kannada | 2000 | Kannada | General Entertainment | SD+HD | Previously known as ETV Kannada |
| Colors Super | 2016 | SD | |||
| Colors Kannada Cinema | 2018 | 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 Tamil | 2018 | Tamil | SD+HD |
Over The Top (OTT)[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd". Viacom18.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
- ^ "TV18 Broadcast Ltd (CRD)" (PDF). BSEIndia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015.
- ^ "Corporate restructure complete for India's Network18". rapidtvnews.com. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
- ^ "Beefing Up The Bouquet". business.outlookindia.com. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
- ^ "Viacom18 launches its new channel 'Sonic Nickelodeon' in India". India Infoline. 5 December 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
- ^ "Network18 finishes Rs 2,053-cr deal to acquire ETV stakes" – via The Economic Times.
- ^ "ETV re-branding to Colors". Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ "TV18 to increase stake to 51% in Viacom18, the JV with Viacom Inc". Viacom18. 31 January 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
- ^ "Viacom18 inks three-year media rights deal with NBA - Exchange4media". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ "Our Channels - On Air". viacom18.com.
- ^ "Viacom18 Announces Launch of Sports18 Khel". News18. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
External links[edit]
- Viacom 18
- Television stations in Mumbai
- Mass media companies based in Mumbai
- Network18 Group
- Paramount International Networks
- Television production companies of India
- Mass media companies established in 2007
- Indian companies established in 2007
- Multinational joint-venture companies
- Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies
- 2007 establishments in Maharashtra
- Television broadcasting companies of India
- Mass media companies of India
- Television networks in India
- Television companies of India