Viacom will buy out H&Q Asia Pacific‘s 68 percent stake in the MTV Japan cable channel for an undisclosed amount, allowing the firm to pursue its cross-platform content strategy in Asia. Private equity firm H&QAP and Viacom have operated the channel since 2001 and, although no terms were released, the buyout is MTV’s second biggest investment outside the US - only the $395 million acquisition of German channel Viva in 2004 was bigger. Japanese divisions of Nickelodeon and digital media Flux, already owned by Viacom, will be added to MTV Japan once the deal completes. “We expect significant upside in our cable and satellite business from this deal, as well as in digital media,” Bill Roedy, MTV Networks International president, told the journal. Release.
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