Viacom18 ups regional play, launches new Kannada movie channel

Media and entertainment firm Viacom18 has expanded its regional offering with the launch of its new Kannada movie channel named Colors Kannada Cinema.

This is its second movie channel by the firm after Rishtey Cineplex that was launched in 2016.

"The network's third channel in the lucrative Kannada market, Colors Kannada Cinema, underlines Viacom18's aggressive expansion in the growing regional broadcast entertainment space," it said in a statement Monday.

With a library of 450 films, the channel will go on air from September 24.

"This move would help us to increase our market share, both in terms of viewership and revenue, in the country's third biggest regional market," said Sudhanshu Vats, group chief executive officer, Viacom18.

The company is a 51:49 joint venture between Reliance Industries and US media conglomerate Viacom.

Viacom18 claims to have a leadership position in the Kannada segment with its general entertainment channels, Colors Kannada and Colors Super, which currently occupy around 46 per cent viewership share in the Kannada market.

Viacom18 head - regional entertainment Ravish Kumar said movies contribute about 11 per cent of the total television viewership in Karnataka.

"While we continue to strengthen our regional bouquet with strategic channel launches in multiple languages, we are also committed to expanding vertically," he added.