Comedy Central, MTV Beats, and VH1 are three beloved channels in India catering to niche-specific audiences who love English content on television. These three channels have bid farewell to Indian audiences as they departed from the JioStar lineup. In the annual e-auction of channels during the 7th DD Freedish, they announced the news along with four other channels, so nine in total.
Among the nine channels, Comedy Central, MTV Beats, and VH1 are notable channels that have previously entertained a generation of pop music and English content lovers. Although the broadcaster of these channels refused to comment on the departure of these channels, a source from BestMediaInfo.com shared their view, citing a competitive market for these channels’ content against OTT platforms.
Comedy Central, MTV Beats, and VH1 were previously owned by Viacom18, which later merged with Disney. The merger of these companies opened doors for Western TV content and music streaming into the Indian market and increased the popularity of Western content among the masses.
Why Did Comedy Central, MTV Beats, and VH1 Bid Farewell?
Since the introduction of the internet, Indian audiences have started watching less television and more English content on other apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime OTT platforms; hence, the viewership of these channels has reduced.
A source from BestMediaInfo.com said, “Revenue is a byproduct of audience. When marketers are convinced that hardly any affluent viewers consume English or music content on television, the broadcaster has no choice but to take this tough call.”
Adding further, “The affinity and appetite for the content of these channels have not vanished. That audience has moved to digital, and that’s why the content will be served to them on JioHotstar.” So you can definitely find content from these channels on online OTT platforms like JioHotstar and not on television.
The Loss of TV Culture
Long gone are the days when watching English content and music meant switching on your television and flicking through channels until you found Comedy Central, MTV Beats, and VH1 to watch English shows and music.
Remember the time when watching Suits, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and The Big Bang Theory, along with chart-topping pop hits on Comedy Central and VH1? Now, you can access these music and TV contents easily on Spotify, JioSavaan, Netflix, JioHotstar, Amazon Prime Videos, and other platforms.
The accessibility of these platforms on smartphones, where you can watch content on the go, unlike television, makes these platforms popular among the young generation, who are always on the go. Therefore, you are watching a shift in entertainment culture along with content watchers’ preferences at the same time.
So, share with us which group of people you belong to: the TV watchers or the OTT streamers?
