Braj Mohan Chaturvedi: Colors of Viacom 18

Cable television market in India is at present dominated by foreign-owned operators, including Star TV, and Sony, and several large domestic broadcasters, such as Zee, Sun TV, and Sahara. The industry in the recent past has seen new players entering the market, or new partners embarking on the joint venture. The change will lead to a period of fierce competition and consolidation in the months to come.

The joint Venture

The United States based Viacom, which owns Hollywood studios such as Paramount and DreamWorks. And television channels such as MTV, VH1 and Nickleodeon and the Indian company TV-18 which runs Indian business channels such as CNBC-TV18 and has a stake in Global Broadcast News, which operates English news channel CNN-IBN on May 2007 entered into joint venture. The 50-50 joint venture – Viacom-18, would set up an entertainment company that will be involved in television, films, and digital media. To the joint venture Viacom has contributed its channels in India - MTV, Nickleodeon and VH1, along with some capital to the venture, while TV-18 is transferring Studio18, it’s production, distribution, home video and music co to the joint venture.

First Launch

The Viacom’s inherent creativity and Network18’s operational excellence make a potent combination that places Viacom18 in an enviable position in the Indian entertainment space. This is evident from the pre launch campaign of the general entertainment channel – Color. This will be the 10th Hindi general entertainment channel on Indian television.

Viacom 18 has announced the launch its first Hindi general entertainment channel – Colors in July this year. The launch is one of the 100 new TV channels which are scheduled for launch in India this year. The launch of COLORS will make Viacom18 one of the strongest entertainment Networks in India. Viacom18 already reaches out to millions of viewers through its TV and filmed entertainment offerings via MTV, Nick, VH1 and other news channel such as CNN-IBN, CNBC-TV18 which are industry leading brands in their respective spaces.

The cluttered TV channel market where the total number of channels on air set to hit 700 by 2009 will be forced to slash advertising rates and spend heavily on improving technology. The new launches would deliver the content to ever smaller audiences, nudging up their cost of distribution and marketing. The new channels need innovative program planning, strong nation wide distribution, great launch, and image differentiation. Commenting on the launch Rajesh Kamat, CEO, Colors, says, “We have worked on the 3Ds – distribution, differentiation and disruption. Distribution will be key for the channel for the initial sampling among viewers. We plan to have Differentiated scheduling of programmes, which will play an important role in its success.” To read the story please read: Viacom18 to Launch ‘COLORS’, GE Channel in Hindi

Katyayana

This Blog is dedicated to all the Management Professionals who want to challenge the set pattern, who are practical in their approach and dont think in thin air; who believe that strategy is all about making things simple; who strongly advocate the “Rule of Simple” and who believe that impossible is nothing. - Just like Katyayana. Katyayana was a disciple of Gautama Buddha. He is also known as Kaccana or Kaccayana, Mahakatyayana, Mahakaccana and in Japanese as Kasennen. Katyayana is one of the “Ten Disciples of the Buddha”. Mahakashyapa, Ananda, Shariputra, Subhuti, Purna, Mahamaudgalyayana, Katyayana, Aniruddha, Upali and Rahula. He was foremost in explaining Dharma. He was born in a brahmin family at Ujjayini (Ujjain) and received a classical Brahminical education studying the Vedas. Katyayana was a Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who lived in ancient India, around the time of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. He is known for two works:- The Varttika, an elaboration on Panini’s grammar. Along with the Maha-bhasya of Patanjali, this text became a core part of the vyakarana (grammar) canon. This was one of the six Vedangas, and constituted compulsory education for Brahman students in the following twelve centuries.- He also composed one of the later Sulba Sutras, a series of nine texts on the geometry of altar constructions, dealing with rectangles, right-sided triangles, rhombuses, etc. Katyayana certainly have been a man of very considerable learning but probably not interested in mathematics for its own sake, merely interested in using it for religious purposes.He wrote the Sulbasutra to provide rules for religious rites and to improve and expand on the rules which had been given by his predecessors. Katyayana would have been a priest instructing the people in the ways of conducting the religious rites he describes. Authorship: Nettipakarana, a work of grammar, and Petakopadesa, a treatise on exegetical methodology, sulvasutras dealt with geometry.

Colors of Viacom 18

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