Viacom (VIA-B) is looking to the international market for growth, and is specifically targeting the Indian television market for a big move in that direction.
On its slate is a proposal to launch a Hindi-language channel sometime in the next 12 months.
The media giant is partnering with India's TV18 to run the operation. It will be a 50/50 joint venture with Viacom embedding its Nickelodeon, MTV and VH1 properties into the deal. The new venture will be called Viacom-18, and TV18 from India will offer its films as their contribution to the content in the agreement.
“India is one of Viacom’s priority markets for expansion internationally,” said Philippe Dauman, chief executive of Viacom.
Viacom has been starting to agressively tackle the Internet space with its MTV division, but that will take time to root and grow.
Internationally, the China market is considered to unstable and unpredicatable to count on. India is the new country of choice for growth with its huge population and growing middle class. It is further along in stability in the markets than China is, making it the new international darling of Hollywood.
TV18 will be helpful to Viacom in helping guide them through the complicated regulatory process in India, while TV18 of India will have an immediate source of content.
It's something that could help Viacom almost immediately; something large media companies are in desparate need of for growth. We should be hearing of a lot more deals between India and traditional media companies in the near future.
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