MUMBAI: IndiaCast, TV18 and Viacom18’s venture announced the launch of international version of MTV India in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
With this launch, MTV India’s international distribution footprint will spans across 31 countries. The channel featuring music and youth reality content from India in Hindi language, will complement Viacom International Media Networks’ (VIMN) existing MTV channel, which services the Middle East and North Africa region with Arabic and international music and entertainment content.
Speaking about the launch MTV India business head Aditya Swamy said, “MTV India has constantly engaged and entertained young India and now the opportunity to do so with young people in the other countries is very exciting. While we will leverage our cult franchises such as Roadies, Unplugged and Rush in these markets, we will also look at some region specific initiatives which will resonate with the local audience.”
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MTV India is IndiaCast’s second channel in the region after its flagship channel Colors which launched in September 2010. IndiaCast team in Dubai, which currently distributes and handles advertising sales for the channel, will manage the distribution and sales for MTV India as well in the region.
IndiaCast COO Gaurav Gandhi said, “Indians are passionate about their music and Hindi Music in particular has a huge following both in India and overseas. The launch of MTV India in the Middle East & North Africa region, will give an opportunity for the South Asian and other audiences to connect with the Indian music and reality programming that they love most. MTV India is our second brand in the region and we intend to grow our presence here with more offerings from our extensive news and regional channel portfolio in the near future.”
MTV India will be available on Pehla branded packs across DTH, Cable, IPTV and SMATV across Bahrain, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan and Mauritiana. MTV India will also launch on other platforms shortly.
‘IndiaCast’ is a strategic joint venture between TV18 and Viacom18 creating India’s multi-platform ‘Content Asset Monetization’ entity. IndiaCast drives Domestic and International Channel Distribution, Placement Services and Content Syndication for TV18, Viacom18, A+E Networks | TV18 and the Eenadu group post completion of its acquisition by TV18. Distributing 26 channels from these media houses across platforms including Cable, DTH, IPTV, HITS and MMDS, it offers a range of channels from entertainment, kids, news, infotainment and music, to regional genres. The entity also distributes Sun Network Channels and Disney Channels in the Hindi Speaking Markets (HSMs) across markets.
