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Viacom Inc said it has completed the acquisition of Prism TV in which it had acquired 50 per cent stake for Rs 940 crore.
The transaction was completed today between Nickelodeon Asia Holdings Pte Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Viacom Inc., and Shinano Retail Private Limited, a company effectively 100 per cent owned by Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited. The parties received clearance from India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board earlier this month.
Prism TV owns and operates regional entertainment channels in India, including ETV Marathi, ETV Kannada, ETV Bangla, ETV Oriya and ETV Gujarati, all of which were recently rebranded under the ‘Colors Umbrella’.
With this acquisition, Viacom Inc. will hold 50 per cent of Prism TV and the remaining 50 per cent interest will continue to be owned by the Network18 Group, Viacom’s partner in the Viacom18 joint venture. Viacom18 operates 10 channels including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Colors.
The deal gives Viacom a significant presence in the fast growing regional TV sector in India, where almost 60 per cent of the population of more than 1.2 billion people speak regional dialects as their first language.
Collectively, regional TV stations account for the second largest share of viewing in the Indian market, behind only Hindi general entertainment channels.
Bob Bakish, President and CEO of Viacom International Media Networks, said: “Regional TV networks – and regional ad markets – are the next wave of growth in India. Having a strong national and broad regional presence gives us a powerful platform to launch additional brands, and introduce successful franchises and formats across India.”
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