Co-productions are helping to drive quality and increase cultural diversity on children’s shows, say leading kids’ TV industry figures. Speaking on yesterday’s TBI Talks (click here to watch on demand), Shabnam Rezaei, co-founder and president of Canadian-US animation studio Big Bad Boo, producer of Hulu’s The Bravest Knight, highlighted how she has seen the number […]
VIA orders Armoza’s ‘lean production’ dating format South African lifestyle channel VIA has ordered a local version of Date In Reverse from ITV Studios-owned Armoza Formats. The format, which was created by Volley Formats, Shenhar Productions and Daniella Slavik, follows two singles who get to know each other by experiencing a relationship’s most meaningful milestones […]
Sudhanshu Vats, group CEO and MD at Viacom18, is stepping down after eight years at the company. Rahul Joshi, MD of the Network18 Group, will now oversee operations for the joint venture, which was formed by ViacomCBS and TV18 in 2007. During his time at the company, Vats helped to expand the network into new […]
Japanese SVOD operator U-Next has struck its first multi-year deal with BBC Studios (BBCS), unveiled as the UK broadcaster’s commercial arm welcomes hundreds of international buyers to its annual sales extravaganza in the UK city of Liverpool. The deal, revealed during BBCS’s Showcase 2020, provides U-Next with more than 3,000 episodes of localised titles ranging […]
Viacom18 is launching its first SVOD play in India with a kids app. The platform, Voot Kids, is an extension of the existing AVOD brand Voot, headed up by Viacom18 group CEO Sudanshu Vats, who first detailed the kids SVOD plans to TBI last year. TBI understands that the launch of an SVOD tier for […]
CBS and Viacom’s merger might have created a $30bn US-based content company but a foray into their assets reveals a swathe of interests that stretch far beyond American shores, with implications for companies in the UK, Argentina, Australia, India and beyond. In one light, the deal is simply the latest salvo in the long line […]
India’s TV18 Broadcast has become the controlling shareholder in the channels business it operates with Viacom. Network18 Media-owned TV18 has added 1% of Viacom’s shares in Viacom18 to become the 51% majority owner for US$20 million, meaning it takes operational and strategic control. A further element to the agreement means Viacom will continue to supply […]
Viacom18 has upped a key exec and shuffled various others in an organisational rejig. The TV18 and Viacom joint venture runs a host of channels in India including the popular Colors service. The changes see Raj Nayak (left) upped to COO, putting him across the group’s Hindi, Youth, Music and English Entertainment offerings. Ferzad Palia, […]
Canadian animation studio Squeeze has shopped its shortform animated series Cracké to Viacom18 in India, which will put it out on the local Nickelodeon channel and the Voot streaming service. The family-skewed series goes out on the Teletoon channel in Canada and follows Ed, an anxious ostrich dad trying to protect a batch of eggs. […]
Indian pay TV net Colors Infinity is creating a new Saturday night slot for doc and biopics. The English-language channel, which is part of the Colors stable jointly operated by Viacom and TV18, is introducing a new strand called Live the Story. It will showcase biography one-offs and doc series. The new slot opens this […]
