Côte Ouest opens Congo office, scores pre-market Viacom deal

African distributor Côte Ouest has an Agence France-Presse executive, opened a new office in Congo, and signed a deal to represent Viacom titles across the continent.

Patrick Akushie will be regional sales manager, Lagos, to work across the region on new commercial and sales relationships, while also securing new business opportunities.

This comes as Côte Ouest launches a new office in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo to add to those already existing in the Ivory Coast, Morocco and Mauritius; and as the company secures a new agreement with Viacom.

This latter move will see it take exclusive sales representation for Viacom programming in Africa (not including South Africa). The five-year deal includes such leading titles as Real Husbands of Hollywood, Let’s Stay Together, Reed Between the Lines and others.

“Côte Ouest is the premier gateway to the Anglophone and Francophone Africa markets for the world’s leading content owners and providers. We pride ourselves on offering the best global programming for our clients across Africa and the Diaspora, and so we are always looking to partner with the best from the rest of the world. We are delighted to be bringing Viacom’s content to our network of clients,” said Côte Ouest’s senior VP Mike Dearham.

Bernard Azria, CEO, Côte Ouest, added: “Moving forward we are very confident in our business model and firm in our belief that we offer the industry the most comprehensive vision for superb content that spans across cultural and language barriers. In short, what we offer to our customers is a ‘must have’ content solution that has proven highly successful in terms of audience appreciation and an association with leading content brands.”