To coincide with taking ownership of the UK broadcaster, Viacom announced the first joint commissions between Channel 5 and its UK pay TV channels.
Viacom's Nickelodeon UK, the number one commercial kids TV network in the UK, is joining forces with Channel 5's preschool programming block, Milkshake, to develop a brand-new animated series called "Nella the Knight", intended to be their first co-production under Viacom ownership. The series will be produced in the UK and co-funded by the two broadcasters, who will share broadcast rights, as they already do with a variety of other popular preschool series including "Peppa Pig", "Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom" and "Bubble Guppies". It is expected that "Nella the Knight" will air on Nickelodeon UK's popular preschool channel, Nick Jr. UK and Ireland. Episodes of Nickelodeon's hit animated series "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" will also begin airing on Channel 5.
In addition, Channel 5 and Viacom's MTV UK are jointly commissioning a new entertainment series, "10,000 BC", in which 20 volunteers will forgo the comforts and conveniences of modern life to go back to the Stone Age. A 10 x 60 minute series is being produced by The Garden and GroupM Entertainment to premiere on Channel 5 in 2015 with a 5 x 60 minute spin-off show airing on MTV UK.
Viacom has also confirmed that Channel 5's advertising sales team will be retained following the closure of the deal and will continue to sell the network's airtime.
Original Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Press Release:
Viacom Closes Acquisition of Channel 5
Company announces first joint commissions between Channel 5 and UK pay TV channels MTV and Nickelodeon
Tweet this: Viacom closes deal to buy UK's Channel 5, announces 1st joint programming commissions
September 10, 2014 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), a division of Viacom Inc. (Nasdaq: VIAB, VIA), today announced the completion of its £450M acquisition of Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited from Northern & Shell Media Group.
"Channel 5's senior executive and sales teams continue to perform strongly and, with an innovative approach to commercial partnerships, have delivered great results. We look forward to working with the senior team and in-house sales staff to build on this success."
The deal, which was announced on 1st May this year, was closed this morning after receiving unconditional clearance from the European Commission.
Philippe Dauman, Viacom President and CEO, said: "Our ownership of Channel 5 will significantly increase Viacom's investment in British creativity and content. We are committed to strengthening Channel 5's status as one of UK broadcasting's premier brands, and we will continue to grow the network's pipeline of original programming with more quality commissions, as well as acquisitions. The addition of Channel 5 will also benefit our existing UK pay television channel portfolio, as demonstrated by the announcement of our first two original programming commissions.
"We are excited about our stewardship of Channel 5 and we look forward to delivering added value for our shareholders, partners and, above all, our audiences."
To coincide with taking ownership of the UK broadcaster, Viacom announced the first joint commissions between Channel 5 and its UK pay TV channels.
Viacom's Nickelodeon is joining forces with Channel 5's pre-school strand, Milkshake, to develop a new animated series, Nella the Knight, intended to be their first co-production under Viacom ownership. The series will be produced in the UK and co-funded by the two broadcasters, who will share broadcast rights, as they already do with a variety of other popular pre-school programmes including Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom and Bubble Guppies. Episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will also begin airing on Channel 5.
In addition, Channel 5 and Viacom's MTV UK are jointly commissioning a new entertainment series, 10,000 BC, in which 20 volunteers will forgo the comforts and conveniences of modern life to go back to the Stone Age. A 10 x 60 minute series is being produced by The Garden and GroupM Entertainment to premiere on Channel 5 in 2015 with a 5 x 60 minute spin-off show airing on MTV UK - see separate release.
Viacom has confirmed Channel 5's advertising sales team will be retained following the closure of the deal and will continue to sell the network's airtime.
Channel 5's Commercial Director of Sales, Nick Bampton, and its Chief Operating Officer, Paul Dunthorne, will report separately to David Lynn, EVP, Managing Director of VIMN UK, and join his UK senior management team, along with Channel 5's Programme Director, Ben Frow.
Lynn said: "Channel 5's senior executive and sales teams continue to perform strongly and, with an innovative approach to commercial partnerships, have delivered great results. We look forward to working with the senior team and in-house sales staff to build on this success."
About Viacom International Media Networks
Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), is comprised of many of the world's most popular multimedia entertainment brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount Channel, VH1, VIVA and COLORS. Viacom brands are seen globally in more than 600 million households in 170 territories and 37 languages via more than 200 locally programmed and operated TV channels and more than 550 digital media and mobile TV properties. For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com. Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom's blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/Viacom.
About Channel 5
Channel 5 launched as Britain's fifth public service broadcaster in March 1997 and reaches 4 in 5 of the UK viewing public each month with a broad mix of popular content, including quality factual programmes, entertainment, reality, sport, acquired and original drama and pre-school children's programming through its award winning Milkshake strand. Sister channels 5* and 5USA complement Channel 5 with a mix of must see entertainment and US drama, while Demand 5 is a free service to catch up with the latest programmes on Channel 5, 5USA and 5* available across platforms and devices including You View, Sky On Demand, Virgin Media, BT Vision, Xbox1, iOS, Android, Freesat, PS4 and Roku. For all the latest about Channel 5, follow us on twitter.com @channel5press and @channel5_tv.
###Also, from Broadcast:
Viacom eyes Channel 5 commissioning boostAlso from Broadcast:
Channel 5 is set to ramp up its commissioning plans after Viacom completed its £450m takeover of the free-to-air commercial broadcaster this week.
Viacom International Media Networks president and chief executive Bob Bakish and executive vice-president and UK managing director David Lynn visited C5 staff on Wednesday morning to deliver the news and reassure them that there would not be a “sudden swathe” of redundancies.
C5 director of programmes Ben Frow, chief operating officer Paul Dunthorne and sales boss Nick Bampton will remain, reporting to Lynn. Former TV3 boss Frow will now be able to take off the “handbrake” and invest in a plethora of new shows, according to an insider.
C5 and Viacom-owned MTV UK are working on their first co-commission – an entertainment format from ITV-owned The Garden. The show, 10,000 BC, which is produced in association with GroupM Entertainment, will follow 20 men and women as they give up modern comforts to live in a Stone Age-style community. It will air as a 10 x 60-minute series on C5 and a 5 x 60-minute series on MTV.
The format, which was pitched to C5 commissioner Simon Raikes before being brought to MTV UK’s Steve Regan, will be the first of many entertainment co-commissions. Regan is expected to work closely with the C5 team on future projects, particularly The Bachelor-style formats that can play on both channels.
Nickelodeon is also tying up with C5’s pre-school block Milkshake! on animated series Nella The Knight, while Comedy Central will begin to co-develop projects in the future.
There will be additional cross-promotion between the channels, but C5 will keep its own identity. MTV UK will also continue to order series independently of the free-to-air broadcaster as per its carriage arrangements with BSkyB to create exclusive pay-TV content.
C5 poised for profile boost
Thanks to Viacom’s scale, the broadcaster will be parking its tanks on Channel 4’s lawn, says Stephen Arnell
There was a distinct feeling of complacency in Jay Hunt’s Meet the Controller session at the Edinburgh TV festival, when she declared: ‘If anything I’m actually less worried about Channel 5 than I have been at any point in my career.’ A career, lest we forget, that has included an eight-month sojourn actually running C5.
A calculated position worked out for industry consumption? Maybe, but if she’s at all serious in this view, it signifies a worrying lack of attention to the potential threat a supercharged Viacom-funded C5 could well pose - not only to C4, but especially to E4, which often picks up the slack in C4’s general ratings decline.
C5 and its siblings 5USA and 5* will now enjoy a direct connection to younger viewers via MTV’s host of music and entertainment channels (including Viva on freeview) and Comedy Central, with kids coming in via the Nickelodeon suite.
The cross-promotional opportunities are immense, as will be the ability for the channels, where contractually possible, to share programming and get the most out of big events such as the MTV VMAs, EMAs and Movie Awards.
Big Brother can be utilised in a number of different ways (an all youth spin-off?) and again will benefit from plugging on 20-odd channels.
Viacom also owns BET, transmitted on Sky, Virgin and Freesat in the UK. It doesn’t transmit any locally produced programming, but it may now may enjoy a higher profile – possibly with windowed shows on C5 off-peak.
MTV’s acknowledged social media skills should also prove a great asset to C5, giving it the oomph it needs to compete with its network rivals.
With BBC3’s planned exile to the online world, Viacom should be ideally placed to pick up young viewers who may prefer to stick to old-fashioned linear viewing.
E4 will be directly in the crosshairs; but C4 will also be likely to suffer – not just in terms of the commercially vital youth audience, but with a broader swathe of viewers, if the added funding from Viacom is put to good use.
C5 can now truly make a decent stab at achieving its first ever broad appeal comedy hit, aided by the expertise of Jill Offman’s Comedy Central.
Mainstream (think classic BBC2) history documentaries and higher-budgeted lifestyle programming on C5 could also knock a dent in C4, especially in daytime and at 8 and 10pm.
Yesterday’s announcement of the joint C5/MTV UK commission of the reality show 10,000BC shows that Viacom means to hit the ground running, parking their tanks on what used to be C4’s lawn.
What hasn’t been disclosed is whether C5 will have any unique access to Paramount movies and series. It’s probably unlikely in terms of loss of potential revenue from sales to other broadcasters and until the current contracts have run their course. But bearing in mind that Paramount Pictures library includes such hit franchises as Mission Impossible, Transformers and Indiana Jones, the temptation to sew some of these up for C5 must be strong, as well as be first in with the re-launched Paramount Television’s new slate of film-derived series (including Ghost and The Truman Show).
The Channel 5 and family share stood at a combined total of 6.4% for the week ending August 2014; with the addition ofViacom channels, the figure rises to 9.2%, compared to 9.8% for all Sky channels and 11% for Channel 4/E4/Film4.
Stephen Arnell is a channel strategist and a former ITV director of channel development
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