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Viacom to increase Channel 5 original programming budget

By | Published on Tuesday 6 May 2014

Viacom

It was confirmed that MTV owner Viacom was buying Channel 5 last week, and the US media firm has now said that it will increase the broadcaster’s budget for original programming, currently £200 million per year, and will not convert any of its six free-to-air channels to subscription-only.

Viacom chief exec Phillippe Dauman told The Guardian: “We believe Channel 5 has had a great trajectory over the last few years, we are going to work with them and continue on that trajectory. We see a lot of opportunity to continue to improve programming”.

He added: “We are excited to be part of the [free-to-air] mix, public service broadcasting, and we intend to preserve it. We want to increase the mix toward original programming. In the US and elsewhere as we increase overall spending, we are also shifting the mix gradually to make more original programming. It has more immediacy and freshness and monetisation opportunity so it will be a bigger part of the mix”.

Viacom is buying Channel 5 from Daily Express and Daily Star owner Richard Desmond.



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