MUMBAI: Viacom18 will soon launch Rishtey in UK, a new mass entertainment Hindi entertainment channel that will complement its existing flagship channel Colors.

Rishtey will be launched in UK first by IndiaCast, showcasing content from a spectrum of genres including format shows, fiction, music and news.

The free-to-air (FTA) channel will be available on Sky Digital, it is learnt. Test signals are on and the launch is expected next month.

Rishtey will air re-run shows of Colors and also have original content.

Viacom18 operates a bouquet of channels including MTV, Nickelodeon, Vh1, Colors, Sonic and Comedy Central. It is also engaged in the film business through Viacom18 Motion Pictures.

Says Viacom18 group CEO Sudhanshu Vats, ?While we have a horizontal presence across television entertainment, with the launch of Rishtey, we now begin the phase of strengthening our presence in each vertical as well.?

Colors CEO Raj Nayak adds, ?With ?Rishtey?, we intend to create a new category within the general entertainment space, and given the rich mine of content within the Viacom18 Group, we?re confident of ?Rishtey? resonating well with both ? viewers as well as advertisers.?

IndiaCast COO Gaurav Gandhi states, ?Rishtey offers a wide range of variety entertainment programming that will engage, entertain and delight the South Asian audiences in the UK. As a free-to-air service, Rishtey perfectly complements our flagship brand Colors, by reaching out to a much wider audience base and giving them a taste of our much loved programming."

MUMBAI: TV18 and Viacom18?s venture, IndiaCast, has launched the international version of MTV India in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. With this launch, MTV India?s international distribution footprint now spans 31 countries.

MTV India will be available on Pehla branded packs across DTH, Cable, IPTV and SMATV in Bahrain, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan and Mauritiana. MTV India will also be launching on other platforms shortly.

Featuring music and youth reality content from India in Hindi, MTV India will complement Viacom International Media Networks? (VIMN) existing MTV channel, which services the Middle East and North Africa region with Arabic and international music and entertainment content.

This is IndiaCast?s second channel in the region after Hindi GEC COLORS was launched in September 2010. The company?s team in Dubai, which currently distributes and handles advertising sales for COLORS, will be managing the distribution and sales for MTV India as well in the region.

This launch expands the offering for advertisers in the region, allowing them to reach both family and youth audiences.

IndiaCast COO Gaurav Gandhi said, "Indians are passionate about their music and Hindi Music in particular has a huge following both in India and overseas. The launch of MTV India in the Middle East & North Africa region, will give an opportunity for the South Asian and other audiences to connect with the Indian music and reality programming that they love most. MTV India is our second brand in the region and we intend to grow our presence here with more offerings from our extensive news and regional channel portfolio in the near future."

MTV India business head Aditya Swamy said, "MTV India has constantly engaged and entertained young India and now the opportunity to do so with young people in the other countries is very exciting. While we will leverage our cult franchises such as Roadies, Unplugged and Rush in these markets, we will also look at some region specific initiatives which will resonate with the local audience."

MUMBAI: MTV, a youth entertainment channel from Viacom18, in association with Yamaha Motor will soon launching a new show titled ?Yamaha MTV Road to Love?.

The show will bring together two ill fated lovers, separated by distance. The 12-episodic series will feature 11 love stories and a grand finale.

The theme of the program is based around 11 couples, their love stories, their separation and finally an opportunity to meet. Each episode will portray the lovers separated by a distance of 200-500 kms in India.

The launch date of the show is yet to be announced.

Social networking sites like Facebook and Skype will act as modern day cupids in their lives. The program is meant for lovers who due to financial constraints or busy schedules, are unable to meet their loved ones. MTV will identify and select some of these "love-struck" and separated couples and gives them a chance to meet each other.

According to the channel, in the show, the lover rides Yamaha Fazer to meet his loved one in an economical, yet comfortable journey. During the journey, the lover will have to overcome three obstacles which will be rewarded with a night?s stay and gifts for their loved one. Having travelled anywhere between 200 to 400 kms, the lovers will be united for time immemorial.
 

MUMBAI: The weak ad environment caused by the economic slowdown is starting to hit the bottom line of Viacom. The US media conglomerate has reported a fall in its profit and revenues.

While profit fell by seven per cent, revenue decreased 14 per cent to $3.24 billion, driven primarily by the mix of film titles and lower ad revenues. Adjusted operating income was $903 million in the quarter, down nine per cent, reflecting the overall decline in revenues, partially offset by lower expenses.

Adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom declined by 12 per cent in the quarter to $512 million, and adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations decreased by two per cent to $0.97 per diluted share.

The comparison with 2011 was impacted by the fact that Viacom?s 2011 third quarter included substantial timing benefits from major films and television event programming, as well as digital distribution agreements.

Viacom executive chairman Sumner M. Redstone said, "We continue to develop outstanding creative content on every platform while efficiently executing Viacom?s strategy. We are confident that Viacom?s unrivaled portfolio of powerful brands will continue to grow and evolve over the long term as we entertain and inspire new audiences around the world every day."

Viacom president, CEO Philippe Dauman said, "Despite challenging year-on-year comparisons with last year?s strong third quarter, Viacom remains committed to pursuing its long-term strategy of international expansion, continued programming investment and ongoing focus on operational discipline. Viacom continues to bring cultural powerhouses to fans around the world, and we are aggressively investing in our brands to create new hits, like Workaholics and Legend of Korra, now the most watched kid?s program on cable in the quarter. Paramount also continued to strengthen its platform by aligning its slate to provide upcoming releases with the best possible opportunity to succeed in the global marketplace."

Quarterly revenues of $3.24 billion decreased from $3.77 billion in the prior year. Media Networks revenue declined 5 per cent to $2.27 billion, driven by lower advertising and ancillary revenues.

Domestic advertising revenues decreased 7 per cent, impacted by the timing of event-driven programming compared with the prior year?s quarter. Worldwide advertising revenues decreased 9 per cent in the quarter.

Domestic affiliate revenues decreased 1 per cent, reflecting the significance of digital affiliate revenues in the same quarter last year. Excluding the impact of digital distribution arrangements, domestic affiliate revenue growth rate was in the high-single digits. Worldwide affiliate fees increased 1 per cent.

Film revenues were down 29 per cent to $1.01 billion. Worldwide theatrical revenues decreased by 52 per cent in the quarter to $283 million, reflecting the number and mix of the company?s current quarter releases. During the quarter, Paramount released three films,DreamWorks Animation?s ?Madagascar 3: Europe?s Most Wanted?, ?The Dictator? and ?Titanic 3D?. In the comparable period of 2011, Paramount released four films: DreamWorks Animation?s ?Kung Fu Panda 2?, Marvel?s ?Thor?, ?Super 8? and ?Transformers: Dark of the Moon?.

Worldwide home entertainment revenues declined by eight per cent in the quarter, driven by the mix of available titles, and worldwide television license fees decreased by 24 per cent reflecting both the number and mix of titles. Worldwide ancillary revenues increased by 44 per cent to $104 million in the quarter, driven by higher digital revenues.

Adjusted operating income decreased 9 per cent to $903 million in the quarter. Media Networks adjusted operating income declined $99 million, reflecting lower overall revenues, partially offset by a decrease in expenses. Filmed Entertainment adjusted operating income decreased $3 million, reflecting the revenue decline, substantially offset by lower expenses. Corporate expenses decreased $15 million, principally reflecting lower variable compensation costs.

Quarterly adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom decreased $71 million, or 12 per cent, in the quarter ended 30 June, 2012, principally due to the decline in adjusted operating income. Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations for the quarter were $0.97, a decrease of $0.02 from the prior year?s comparable quarter.

MUMBAI: Viacom18, a joint venture of Network18 Group and US-based Viacom, has suffered losses for the fourth straight quarter, dragged down by new channel launches and its motion pictures business.

The loss for the fiscal first-quarter have, however, narrowed from the trailing quarter as revenue has started flowing from these channels. The increase in its expenses during the quarter ended June 30, 2012 was on account Rs 711 million spent on its earlier-shelved Hindi movie channel (against no expenses a year ago), a 53 per cent increase in its marketing and distribution costs to Rs 1.03 billion from Rs 674 million a year earlier.

The company reported a net loss in the first quarter of 2012-13 against a small profit a year earlier, due to losses in the motion pictures and new broadcasting businesses.

Viacom18, which owns a group of entertainment channels including flagship Hindi entertainment channel Colors, posted a net loss of Rs 249 million in the first quarter against a profit of Rs 26 million a year earlier. In the fourth quarter of 2011-12, the broadcaster had reported a net loss of Rs 337 million.

The company reported operating losses of Rs 166 million from new broadcasting operations and Rs 153 million from motion pictures business. Operating profit of Rs 238 million came from Viacom18?s continuing broadcasting operations.

Viacom18 said, "Our continuing business, including new operations, grew at about 12 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year. Colors turned in another steady quarter in the Hindi GEC space in a highly competitive market environment. It continues to be the No. 2 channel during weekday prime time with 5 shows that are slot leaders in their respective slots."

The operating losses in new broadcasting operations and motion pictures business pulled down the company?s overall operating profit by 87 per cent to Rs 24 million in the first quarter from Rs 189 million a year earlier.

The discontinued HMC and The Indian Film Company businesses earned the company operating profit of Rs 105 million against a loss of Rs 28 million, primarily because of the revenue flow of Rs 911 million from the sale of a library of 500 movies to Star India in January.

Viacom18?s total operating revenues were up 44 per cent in the first quarter of 2012-13 to Rs 4.0 billion (which included revenue realised from sale of the movie library) from Rs 2.76 billion a year earlier.

MUMBAI: The Times Television Network (TTN) has appointed Rohit Kishore Chopra to the post of head legal at Times Television Network and Prime Connect. He will be based out of Mumbai and be responsible for all legal and regulatory affairs of TTN and Prime Connect as well as support the team on Box TV.

The existing legal teams at TTN and Prime Connect will report into Chopra who in turn will report into Avinash Kaul.

ET Now, Times Now and Zoom chief executive officer Avinash Kaul said, "We are delighted to have Rohit on board. Given his significant experience in the broadcast space, Rohit will play a pivotal role in directing the legal and regulatory aspects of TTN?s business."

Chopra comes to TTN from Viacom18 Media where he was head corporate legal affairs. He has worked at Balaji Telefilms Limited, Reliance Big Broadcasting and ESPN Star Sports in the past.

Chopra said, "I am really excited and honored to be a part of such a diversified media conglomerate. I look forward to working with this dynamic team and adding value to the system."