© 2010 Rapid TV News
Chris Forrester ©RapidTVNews | 08-12-2009
Brazil's Group Abril is buying the remaining slice of MTV's broadcasting activity in the country from Viacom. Abril will then licence "expanded use" of the MTV brand in Brazil. Abril is already the majority shareholder of MTV Brazil.
"Group Abril and Viacom have entered into an agreement that expands Group Abril's ability to use the MTV brand in Brazil with exclusivity across multiple platforms which include TV, online, mobile, radio and licensing. In addition, Group Abril has purchased Viacom Inc's 30% interest in MTV Brazil. As a result, the MTV Brazil joint venture between Group Abril and Viacom Inc. has been dissolved," said a statement made by Giancarlo Civita, Executive President of Group Abril and Sofia Ioannou, MD/MTV Networks Latin America.
André Mantovani, General Director of Grupo TV, pointed out that with this new model of business , MTV Brazil will be able to diversify its operation on several fronts, strengthening its presence on TV, the Internet, licensing and entering firmly into mobile. "With the exclusive license to use the brand, we have complete autonomy in all businesses. This will allow us to launch other initiatives, even on media platforms that we don't currently service."
Sofia Ioannou noted: "Moving from a minority owned joint venture to a licensing agreement is in line with our international strategy for growth where our brands can be maximized in key markets, such as Brazil. With this agreement, MTV Brazil has the ability to optimize its distribution on other platforms to provide clients and consumers with the best possible connection to the MTV brand."
Giancarlo Civita affirmed that, moving forward this agreement opens and provides opportunities for Abril Group to seek out synergies with other companies. "I'm sure that the brand's strength and the effort put forth by our team will bring many results for the company and the organization".
"We look forward to MTV Brazil realizing its full potential." commented Alvaro Paes de Barros, General Manager of Viacom Networks Brazil. "Similarly, we will continue to focus on building our existing brands (Nickelodeon and VH1) as well as the introduction of new ones into the market."
© Rapid TV News 2009
