Viacom International


Viacom International Inc. is a subsidiary of ViacomCBS responsible for copyrights and trademarks associated with its corporate websites and its cable networks, specifically its Domestic Media Networks division, and is the division which licenses the product rights for their various properties. Prior to 1986, Viacom International was the parent company of Viacom Enterprises, and the old CBS TV show catalogs. Before the merger with CBS Corporation in 1999, it also acted as the first Viacom's licensee company for Viacom's owned television stations; for instance New Britain, Connecticut station WVIT, currently an NBC owned-and-operated station for the Hartford market owned by Viacom from 1978 until 1997, took their call letters from Viacom International.
Viacom International also continues to focus on its own in-house productions made for its various networks such as MTV, VH1, and Nickelodeon. Viacom International is a partner in Comedy Partners, the Viacom subsidiary which owns Comedy Central. The other partner is the parent company itself, as former owner of the Ha! network; the "Comedy Partners" name dates to when Viacom and Time Warner co-owned Comedy Central until 2003 as a merger of Ha! and Time Warner's Comedy Channel.