Viacom18 chief joins its TV business, sources say

Veteran media executive Kevin Vaz, who chairs Viacom 18, has formally joined the company's TV business, sources close to the development have said. He had previously been the head of Disney Star's entertainment division. It was his last day in the company, and he was due to leave on June 13. Kevin will become the head of the company's TV business, which consists of almost 38 channels across various genres, such as general entertainment, movies, regional, and kids. In addition to this, he will spearhead regional content and marketing for the digital business. Two people familiar with the matter said that the announcement about Vaz's appointment was made at a town hall meeting on Monday. The town hall was made up of Reliance Jio chairman Akash Ambani, who joined through video conference, and Uday Shankar, who is now on Viacom 18's board. Viacom 18 had not offered any comments until the time of filing this report. Viacom 18 CEO Jyoti Deshpande will transition out of this role to concentrate solely on Jio Studios as its head. Reliance Industries Media Business is also chaired by Deshpande. Anil Jayaraj is the chief executive of the sports business, while Gourav Rakshit is the COO of the digital business. JioCinema Viacom 18 is going to merge with its streaming platform Voot and JioCinema, sources said. Viacom 18 will eventually have separate CEOs for television and digital businesses, the source said. Vaz has been working with Disney Star India for more than 20 years and has played a variety of important roles, such as CEO of the regional entertainment business and head of ad sales. Viacom 18 received a cash injection of Rs 15,145 crore in April following the completion of the strategy encompassing Reliance Industries, Bodhi Tree Systems, and Paramount Global, following the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal NCLT.