NEW DELHI : Media and entertainment conglomerate Viacom18 has announced the appointment of Jyoti Deshpande as chief executive officer with immediate effect.
Deshpande is already serving on the boards of Network 18 and investee companies Balaji Telefilms and Saavn Media. In her new role, she will help bring synergies across all of Reliance’s media interests and investments and further equip the company to drive significant growth opportunities as the industry embraces digital transformation, the company said in a statement.
Deshpande comes with 27 plus years of experience in the media and entertainment business. She joined Reliance Industries in 2018 as president, media platform and content, after having led operations at Eros International.
“Viacom18 is poised to grow as a truly integrated media company across broadcast, OTT and content studio business spanning general entertainment, movies and sports across languages. Given Jyoti’s rich experience in the media sector around content, distribution and monetisation across traditional and emerging platforms, we believe she is best placed to lead the company and its operations," Adil Zainulbhai, chairman, Network18 said in a statement.
On the movie front, Viacom18 Studios has recently partnered with Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions on four films meant for the theatres, the two companies said in a statement. The films are: Johar’s directorial venture Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani starring Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt; Raj Mehta-directed Jug Jugg Jeeyo starring Anil Kapoor, Neetu Singh Kapoor, Varun Dhawan and Kiara Advani; Shakun Batra’s film starring Deepika Padukone, Ananya Panday, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Dhairya Karwa; and Shashank Khaitan’s film featuring Vicky Kaushal, Kiara Advani and Bhumi Pednekar.
Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Limited is a joint venture between TV18 and US-based Viacom Inc. Besides the movie studio, it owns a clutch of television channels and a video streaming platform VOOT.
