Ravish Kumar to head Colors’ movie channel

Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. today announced the appointment of Ravish Kumar as the General Manager and Head of its to-be-launched Hindi movie channel.

Ravish joins Viacom18 today and he will be reporting to Raj Nayak, CEO ��� Colors. Ravish Kumar joins Viacom18 from Star TV where as Executive Vice President & General Manager for Regional Channels he was responsible for managing Star Jalsha and Star Pravah – the leading GECs in Bengal and Maharashtra.

Ravish brings with him 17+ years of sales, brand marketing and general management experience in some of the leading Fortune 500 companies across India, the US and the UK. He has outstanding academic credentials with an undergraduate degree in Economics from St Stephen’s College and an MBA from FMS & The J.L.Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Announcing his appointment, Haresh Chawla, Group CEO ��� Viacom18, commented, “The launch of the Hindi Movie Channel is one of the most significant steps in Viacom18�۪s expansion blueprint. Given Ravish�۪s experience, we�۪re confident of him in propelling the channel towards leadership within the next 18-24 months.�۝ Haresh further added, ���All Viacom18 brands operate amongst the top-2 slots in their respective categories and our plans for the Hindi Movie channel are no different. We plan to launch our Hindi Movie Channel sometime in the last quarter of this calendar year”.

Speaking on his new role, Ravish said, “I am delighted to join the team at Viacom18. It has already proved in the Hindi GEC space that even a late entrant into an established market can become a market leader by leveraging superior consumer insight to create differentiated, disruptive and innovative content. I look forward to extending that experience to Hindi Movie space, where channels today have become a commodity and therefore represent an exciting opportunity to create relevant and meaningful differentiation.”

The currently unnamed Colors’ movie channel has been on the anvil for several months. It is expected to launch by the end of this year in India, with a UK launch set to follow sometime next year.