Viacom explores sale of China TV assets: reports
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Rebecca Hawkes
| 16 January 2019

US media giant Viacom has been in talks in China over the sale of its majority stakes in local MTV and Nickelodeon channels, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

No potential buyer was named in the report but Viacom sources told Variety it remains committed to the Chinese market, where it has operated for more than 20 years.

The company may be seeking to emulate the model it follows in India, where Viacom has already sold a 1% stake in its erstwhile 50:50 joint venture with Reliance Industries, allowing the latter’s network TV18 to take majority control in Viacom18 last year. A similar arrangement is held in South Korea where Viacom’s local partner SBS assumes control over the SBS MTV and Nickelodeon Korea channels.

Viacom operates the 24-hour MTV Mandarin channel and Nickelodeon China with state-owned broadcaster CCTV, and licenses content to Chinese streaming services such as iQIYI.

The Chinese arm of Viacom’s movie studio Paramount Pictures is said to be unaffected by the talks.