McCann Erickson wins creative duties of AETN-18's History channel

The agency has won the creative duties through a multi-agency pitch and will work on the launch communication strategy for the channel in India.

McCann Erickson has won the creative duties of AETN-18's soon-to-be-launched channel, History, in India. AETN-18 is a joint venture between A&E Networks and TV18.

The agency has won the creative duties through a multi-agency pitch. However, the size of the business could not be obtained at the time of filing this report.

Ajay Chacko, president, AETN-18, in an official communiqué, says, "History has always been associated with the past, but with the new channel, we hope to change people's perception of history. The channel is contemporary. It is also about action, thrill and adventure, as much as it is about events and people that have shaped our lives."

McCann Erickson will work on the launch communication strategy for the channel in India.

Prasoon Joshi, executive chairperson, McCann Worldgroup India, says, "I am looking forward to doing great work together, especially because the AETN-18 team believes in out of the box thinking."

Meanwhile, AETN-18 is on the lookout for a media agency as well, as it plans to launch the channel by next month.

For the record, in August 2010, A&E Television Networks, LLC (AETN) and the Network18 Group formed a joint venture (JV), called AETN-18 India. The JV will see the roll-out of several channels, including History, Bio and other popular AETN channels, in India.

AETN-18 is one of the fastest growing pay television companies in the US. It operates two of the top five pay-TV networks, History and A&E, and a women's network called Lifetime.