Breaking news: Rajesh Kamat named COO of Viacom18 Network

Rajesh Kamat has been named chief operating officer of Viacom18 Network. This is in addition to his role as CEO of Colors, Viacom18's general entertainment channel. In his new role, Kamat will oversee network functions of Viacom18 and Viacom18’s growth ventures, while continuing to consolidate Colors' leadership position in the GEC space in his current role as CEO, Colors. He will continue to report into Haresh Chawla, group CEO, Viacom18.

Viacom18 has confirmed the development and announced some key changes in its organisational structure. Ashish Patil joins Kamat’s team as senior  VP- new ventures and GM - Youth Movies. In his new role, he would work with Kamat on exploring growth opportunities for Viacom18.
In addition, Vikas Verma joins Viacom18’s youth channel, as the head of Creative and Content – brand MTV.

Commenting on the changes, Haresh Chawla, group CEO – Viacom18, said, “The last 24 months have been very exciting for Viacom18, and all our brands (Colors, MTV, Nick and Vh1) have ended year 2009, at the Number 1 spot in their respective categories. As we move into our next phase of growth, it’s critical to have a structure that supports our ambitions and fuels expansion.”

He further added, “Given what Rajesh has accomplished with Colors, I am confident of his abilities to not only seek newer growth avenues for Viacom18 but also consolidate our network functions.”

Speaking of the change of guard at MTV, Haresh commented, “Over the last 4 years, Ashish has done a great job of transitioning  MTV from a music channel to a dominant youth entertainment channel, and now he hands over the mantle to Vikas to further deepen and enrich our offerings."