GECs
Viacom confirms Comedy Central acquisition
NEW YORK: Viacom Inc has announced today that it has reached an agreement with AOL Time Warner to acquire AOL’s 50 per cent interest in Comedy Central, for a total of $1.225 billion.
After the transaction is completed by the second quarter of 2003, Comedy Central will be wholly owned by Viacom and will join MTV Networks’ lineup of basic cable channels. Larry Divney will remain president of Comedy Central and the network will continue to be based in New York and Los Angeles, according to Viacom.
This is the first asset sale by AOL Time Warner as executives try to revive growth at the world’s largest media company and to restore investor credibility by cutting its approximate $29 billion in total debt, according to Reuters. Comedy Central, which airs shows like bawdy, animated South Park and the nightly satirical newscast The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, has thrived financially for the competing media titans.
Also included in the transaction is comedycentral.com, which features original programs, schedule information, advanced technology, games, downloads and an online store. Comedy Central, which reaches 82 million US homes, was launched on April Fool’s Day 1991 after Home Box Office, owned by AOL Time Warner, merged its Comedy Channel with MTV Networks’ HA! comedy network, owned by Viacom.
Te network, one of the few examples of a successful media joint venture, has gained a reputation for continuing to push the limits of what can be broadcast on TV with sharp political satire and increasingly popular gross-out humour.
It has humorously covered political events and introduced original shows, such as “Mystery Science Theater 3000” and “Politically Incorrect,” each of which garnered Emmy Award nominations and eventually landed on other networks.
Viacom chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone has been quoted as saying, “Expanding our interest in cable networks, one of the fastest growing and most promising areas of the media industry, remains a priority for Viacom. Bringing one of the top cable networks brands fully into our family is a significant and important transaction both financially and creatively that will bring significant benefits to Viacom and its shareholders.”
GECs
Zee scales syndication with global tie-ups, 350 plus channel MCN
Vertical, dubbed and audio formats boost digital reach
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is giving its content library a fresh passport. The company has stepped up its syndication push, signing global partnerships, experimenting with new-age formats and building a multi-channel network that now spans more than 350 channels.
With the newly secured MCN licence, Zee can manage, distribute and monetise content across leading digital platforms at scale, strengthening its presence in the fast-growing creator and short-form ecosystem.
To keep pace with changing viewing habits, the company is also reshaping its content into formats built for the small screen in your hand. In a tie-up with micro-drama platform Story TV, select titles are being reworked into vertical, short-duration episodes tailored for mobile-first audiences.
Beyond India, the syndication team is widening its global footprint with foreign-language dubbing and regional partnerships across Europe, Africa and Latin America, opening up fresh markets for Indian stories.
Zee is also tapping into the audio boom. It has begun licensing audio remake rights for legacy properties such as Zee Horror Show, with several more titles lined up for audio-first adaptations.
On the digital front, the company has made progress in monetising non-exclusive rights for library films, while converting select shows and movies from horizontal to vertical formats to improve discoverability on short-form platforms.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. business head syndication Vinod Johri, said syndication has emerged as a strong growth lever for the company. He noted that the combination of a large MCN network, global partnerships and new formats such as vertical video and audio is helping build a future-ready engine that extracts more value from the content library.
Together, these moves signal a platform-agnostic approach to storytelling, as Zee repackages, localises and redistributes its IP across geographies, formats and screens, ensuring its catalogue keeps working long after the first broadcast.
