Televisa and Viacom Sign Licensing and Multimedia Deal
Viacom’s MTV Networks Latin America and Televisa, the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world, announced yesterday a strategic alliance that will add MTV Networks Latin America’s licensing, merchandising and publishing businesses to the existing pay TV and broadcast distribution agreements with Televisa. This multi-year deal, terms of which were not disclosed, broadens a pre-existing agreement between the two media companies.
“This partnership brings together two powerhouses with great expertise in complementing areas,” said Pierluigi Gazzolo, senior VP-distribution, MTV Networks Latin America. “Televisa’s strong leadership as a multimedia company and its broad distribution capability, joined with MTV Networks Latin America’s impressive brand awareness and its high quality international content take the multimedia market in Mexico to a whole new level.”
Under the agreement, Televisa gets exclusive licensing rights to Nickelodeon’s consumer products in Mexico. It marks the first time a global entertainment company has partnered with a broadcaster in Mexico to manage its licensing and merchandising business. Televisa’s licensing team will manage such Nick properties as SpongeBob, Dora the Explorer and Rugrats, among others, as well as help launch a portfolio of new properties.
Carriage for MTV, Nickelodeon and VH1 will continue on Sky Mexico and Cablevision. Additionally, transmission for the MTVN Digital services (MTV Hits, MTV Jams, VH1 Soul, VH1 Megahits and GAS) will continue on Cablevision. Lastly under the existing broadcast agreement, Channel 5 will continue airing Nickelodeon programming blocks. Furthermore, both companies will continue to work together to strengthen this relationship by exploring other opportunities.
“Consolidating our relationship in this way really speaks to the business opportunities we see in Mexico when content and distribution work together,” added Jose Bastón, Televisa’s corporate VP-television. “Televisa has a unique relationship with their customers and this partnership will reflect Televisa’s permanent concern for its audiences by offering fresh and relevant content to the consumers.”
