MUMBAI: Viacom18?s comedy channel Comedy Central is looking to nurture talent of home grown comic artists through its new property ?Comedy Central Presents?, which is a tie-up with select stand up artists and comedy groups to promote their shows on-air, and on the digital space (facebook.com/comedycentralindia).

?Comedy Central Presents? will promote everything that is comic and some of the most recent associations have been with comedy fests like the Clean Comedy festival with Dan Nainan, The Ultimate Hahathon at Counter Culture every Thursday, Evam ? a popular stand up comedy group in Chennai. Other names promoted under the ?Comedy Central Presents? banner include Neeti Palta ? Loony Goons (Delhi), Karan Thapar ? Schitzengiggles (Mumbai), Raghav Mandava ? CheeseMonkeyMafia (Gurgoan) and Adam Dow - Improv Comedy Mumbai.

To keep the viewers updated on the latest comedy gigs in town, Comedy Central will also have a special on-air spot called ?Giggle Guide?, where viewers are informed about gigs happening across the country, the Facebook page would have regular updates informing fans about the date and venue of the performance.

?CC Presents? aims at getting bigger and better by each passing week by adding more associations to the current list of tie-ups across artists performing in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The channels? main aim is to take over the comedy scene in India and be present where ever good comedy is.

MUMBAI: Viacom?s channel Comedy Central has created Comedy Central Enterprises, a new business division that will focus on building the brand through consumer products, home video, CDs and digital downloads, publishing, and live touring.

The announcement was made by Comedy Central president Michele Ganeless. Mitch Fried has been promoted to the newly formed position of Comedy Central Enterprises executive VP and will head up the new business division, reporting to Ganeless. Fried was formerly Comedy Central Live Entertainment senior VP.

Ganeless said, "In the increasingly fractured world of content distribution, success today means reaching fans everywhere. The formation of Comedy Central Enterprises strengthens our relationship with our fans. It?s another example of the kind of extension that keeps Comedy Central the number one brand in comedy. Mitch Fried is an experienced and innovative executive with a long history at Comedy Central. Respected and well-liked throughout the industry, he knows the brand intimately and is the perfect person to spearhead our efforts under the new Enterprises banner."

Comedy Central Enterprises will bring together a number of brand extensions under Fried?s oversight, including the previously independent Consumer Products, Home Entertainment, Records, Live Entertainment and Publishing divisions.

Under Fried?s leadership, Comedy Central Enterprises will incorporate everything from negotiating with talent representation to execution, distribution, production and marketing support of these ancillary businesses. He will seek to expand the network?s business partnerships with the talent community through omni-platform deals, which will encompass any combination of the division?s brand extensions.

Fried said, "By consolidating these brand extensions into a single business division with a common goal, we are in a better position to grow and strengthen the brand and provide our fans with what they want most, easily-accessible, high-quality comedy, both on screens and off. Forming the Enterprises division also provides benefits to our talent partners by offering them massive exposure to our fans and a multitude of opportunities and points of distribution to increase their own following and generate revenue by getting their content in front of an ever-widening consumer base."

Reporting to Fried are vice presidents Steve Raizes and Jack Vaughn, who will be charged with developing and maximising the synergistic elements of the new Enterprises division.

 
The businesses now reporting to Fried under the Enterprises banner include:

• Comedy Central Consumer Products - generating $2 billion at retail since its inception, the Consumer Products division negotiates with third parties to translate Comedy Central shows, personalities and characters into consumer goods including apparel, social expressions, toys, games, electronics and consumables. Recent highlights include a partnership with Frito Lay and Wal-Mart to introduce "Cheesy Poofs" to the market in celebration of the 15th anniversary of ?South Park?, as well as a licensing programme surrounding ?The Daily Show with Jon Stewart?, ?The Colbert Report? and the brand?s own ?Indecision? political coverage. Additional programs launching in 2012/2013 include efforts around ?Tosh.0?, ?Workaholics? and stand-up comedy.
• Comedy Central Home Entertainment - responsible for over $500 million in sales since its creation, the Home Entertainment division includes DVD and digital on demand releases of the Comedy Central series and stand-up specials distributed through Paramount Home Entertainment, including four of the top five stand-up DVD releases of 2011. Recent releases from Jeff Dunham and Gabriel Iglesias have sold a combined one million units in only six months. The upcoming slate includes artists such as Demetri Martin, Chris Hardwick and Patton Oswalt.
• Comedy Central Live Entertainment - with over $100 million in box office receipts and over 2.7 million tickets sold, Comedy Central Live Entertainment is one of the dominant players in live stand-up touring. In 2012 alone, Comedy Central partnered with Daniel Tosh, Gabriel Iglesias and Jim Gaffigan on their respective tours, generating 375,000 tickets sold and $15 million in box office receipts. In addition to bringing major headliners to the masses, Comedy Central Live has a college touring program that brings younger comedians to campuses across the country and produces a free, annual event in New York City, ?Comedy Central Park?, which this year featured correspondents, contributors and producers from ?The Daily Show with Jon Stewart?. Comedy Central is also in its seventh year partnering with Live Nation in the South Beach Comedy Festival and will continue its partnership in the eight Annual New York Comedy Festival with Caroline?s Comedy Club, taking over New York City each November.
• Comedy Central Records - the world?s largest comedy label as well as one of the largest independent labels in the country, Comedy Central Records? catalog includes both spoken word and music from top comedic talent including Comedy Central series and standup specials. Released via traditional CD and via digital download-to-own, the label has received eight Grammy Award nominations since its launch in 2002, winning "Best Comedy Album" for the last three years. Along with critical acclaim, the Records division has produced numerous Gold, Platinum and Double-Platinum albums.
• Publishing - Comedy Central recently announced a new publishing relationship with Running Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group, and will release its first title, a holiday-themed novelty book from Denis Leary, later this year.

MUMBAI: Comedy Central UK has acquired exclusive broadcast rights to the Charlie Sheen sitcom ?Anger Management? from Lionsgate?s international television division.

Charlie Sheen?s return to primetime television was picked up by Comedy Central UK at the LA screenings in May and joins top rating show Two and a Half Men exclusively on the channel.

Comedy Central director of programming Chris Collie said, "?Anger Management? was the funniest show from this year?s screenings ? Charlie is back and on incredible form. ?Anger Management? sits perfectly alongside our line-up of the biggest and most talked about U.S. shows ? ?30 Rock?, ?South Park?, ?The Office?, ?Two And A Half Men?, ?Friends? and ?The Daily Show with Jon Stewart?."

Lionsgate International television executive Peter Iacono said, "We believe that Comedy Central is the perfect home for Anger Management in the UK.and we?re delighted to continue building the show?s momentum through ground breaking sales in territories around the world. The show is off to a record-breaking start in the U.S., and we expect it to have similar resonance with audiences around the world."

?Anger Management? and series two of UK commission ?Threesome? are the first shows from the Comedy Central autumn line-up to be announced.

The new series marks Charlie Sheen?s first return to serialised television since his departure from the CBS series ?Two and a Half Men? a little over a year ago. The show is loosely based on Revolution Studios? 2003 feature film ?Anger Management?, which grossed $178 million in global box office.

In the series, Sheen stars as ex-baseball pro turned anger management therapist Charlie Goodson, who has to cope with some management issues of his own. His female costars are Shawnee Smith as his ex-wife and Selma Blair as his therapist. Bruce Helford heads up the writing team and serves as showrunner.

Lionsgate International has already sold ?Anger Management? in Canada, Latin America, Germany, Scandinavia, Benelux, Australia, New Zealand and Poland. Lionsgate?s Debmar-Mercury syndication company sold the show to FX Network in the US and will be selling its second syndication window in the U.S. as well.

?Anger Management? debuted on 28 June in the US on FX.

MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl is restructuring his media and entertainment companies under three operational heads as he gears up for expansion after getting Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to indirectly invest in it.

Forming IndiaCast, a distribution company that houses content syndication as well, Bahl has got individual heads to shepherd the entertainment, news and distribution businesses that are entering a new growth phase.

Bahl‘s broad plan could be to bring the ETV regional entertainment channels under Viacom18 operational management while its news entities will be under TV18, a source familiar with the development says.

It is not clear yet if this operational structure will be allowed to transition into an equity arrangement. For this to happen, media conglomerate Viacom will have to agree to invest and induct the ETV entertainment channels into the joint venture company, Viacom18, where it holds 50 per cent stake.

"Nothing has been finalised yet. Viacom, no doubt, will be happy to have the regional GECs under Viacom18. A lot will also depend on how RIL wants the structure to evolve. But there are other issues as well," the source says.

As part of the plan to fortify its regional presence, TV18 acquired partial ownership in the broadcasting assets of Eenadu after valuing it at Rs 21 billion. With the purchase, the company has got 100 per cent stake in 5 regional news channels of ETV (where RIL has 100% interest), 50 per cent stake in 5 regional GEC channels excluding Telugu (where RIL has 100% interest) and 24.5 per cent stake in ETV Telugu channels (where RIL has 49% interest). The news channels include ETV Uttar Pradesh, ETV Madhya Pradesh, ETV Rajasthan, ETV Bihar, and ETV Urdu. The regional GECs are ETV Marathi, ETV Kannada, ETV Bangla, ETV Gujarati and ETV Oriya.

The restructuring exercise comes in the wake of these developments and the exit of Haresh Chawla who functioned as Network18 and Viacom18 Group CEO.

"The role of Chawla was too unwieldy as he had full control of all the group companies . After his exit, a restructuring was needed keeping in mind the growth plans," the source explains.

Network18 Group has a combined turnover of Rs 19.52 billion that includes 50 per cent of Viacom18 (Colors, MTV, etc), the news channels under TV18 (CNBC TV18, CNN IBN, IBN7, etc), the web properties and HomeShop18. As the company gears up to launch a Hindi movie channel (put on hold) and regional-language channels, a breakup in roles is the need of the hour.

"It wasn‘t practical for Chawla to oversee the whole of Bahl‘s empire. His operational role at Viacom18 at times was uncalled for and led to a quiet unrest," says a senior executive who has left the company on condition of anonymity.

Bahl Wednesday announced the hiring of Sudhanshu Vats, a senior executive at HUL, as the group CEO of Viacom18 Media. Under
 him will fall Colors, Comedy Central, MTV, Nick, Sonic, Vh1 and Viacom18 Motion Pictures. He has already recruited Anuj Gandhi, an industry veteran, to spearhead IndiaCast‘s growth.

Bahl‘s new structure will mean that the non-ad sales business falls under the care of Gandhi while Vats gets to groom the entertainment networks and Sai Kumar to directly nurse the news and web businesses while continuing his role as Network18 and TV18 Group CEO.

"Earlier, everybody was reporting to Chawla. Now the reality is that each of these lines of businesses need individual management and are too expanded to be operationally under one CEO," the source says.

Take IndiaCast, for example. The new distribution company, under which also resides the syndication business, is already having a turnover of Rs 4.30 billion. Bahl‘s ambition is to scale this up to the size of the biggies, particularly in a digital environment where there is going to be exponential growth in subscription revenues. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) reported domestic subscription of Rs 9.22 billion in FY‘12 and Rs 1.32 billion through other sales and services (syndication sales, playout & transmission services and facility usage income).

Bahl has given IndiaCast a wider playground, bringing under its umbrella content asset monetisation across geographies, platforms and mediums. The other channel distribution companies do not have such a broad canvass and content syndication falls outside their functional zones.

"Bahl believes that IndiaCast has enough leg room to grow and become a Rs 10 billion company over the next few years after digitisation of cable TV spreads," a media analyst at a broking firm says.

Vats will also have his plate full as the group expands its regional footprint and comes out with a Hindi movie channel and other entertainment products that are sure to launch in a digitised environment.

Kumar will have a tough task cut out for him as he tries to beat slow revenue growth for news channels. The web properties will 

also have to be guided to a scale that will make it comfortable for Bahl to tap the American market for raising capital through a public float.

After being rescued from a debt overhang by RIL, Bahl is laying out the new leadership structure that will provide fertile ground for new growth.

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Sudhanshu Vats joins Viacom18 as Group CEO

Mumbai: Viacom18 Media has appointed Sudhanshu Vats as its group CEO.

Vats will join in August and report to the Viacom18 board. He will be responsible for growth of all Viacom18 brands/businesses including Colors, Comedy Central, MTV, Nick, Sonic, Vh1 and Viacom18 Motion Pictures.

Vats is currently the vice president of Laundry, South Asia and Global Brand Radiant (Rin in India).

Network18 Group founder Raghav Bahl said, "Given Sudhanshu?s rich experience, his ability to lead large businesses and his acute understanding of the Indian diaspora, he is well poised to lead Viacom18 into its next phase of growth. Sudhanshu also brings with him an intense and interesting perspective on the entertainment business and that is sure to add a new dimension to Viacom18."

Network18 and TV18 group CEO Sai Kumar added, "Viacom18 comprises some of the most dynamic brands in the television and entertainment space that cater to a wide spectrum of audiences. Given Sudhanshu?s vast experience and an extremely successful track record with multi-brand portfolios, we?re confident of him driving each of the Viacom18 brands to its deserved place in the category."

"With Sudhanshu on board, we?re confident that Viacom18 will continue to redefine the many spaces it operates in," Viacom International Media Networks president and CEO Bob Bakish said.

Vats comes in with over 21 years of experience, including 19 years in Hindustan Unilever.