After 12 years as president of Comedy Central, Michele Ganeless said late Monday that she is stepping down from the network at the end of this month. Her second-in-command, Kent Alterman, president of original programming, is replacing her. She will remain as a consultant through September, reported Deadline, which broke the news.

Additionally, David Bernath is being promoted to general manager, moving up from his current role as executive VP of programming and multiplatform strategy. Bernath will report to Alterman.

“Kent has an extraordinary talent for uncovering and elevating original comedic voices who bring a distinct point of view to the table. Finding and nurturing great talent is what we do best, and we are doubling down on that approach,” said Doug Herzog, president of Viacom’s Entertainment and Music Group. “When you combine that with Dave’s strong leadership and his ability to make comedy resonate on every platform, you get a team that will be super-focused on delivering the best comedic content to our fans wherever they are.”

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Ganeless chose not to renew her contract, according to The Hollywood Reporter, but it’s not lost on observers that she’s departing at a time when Comedy Central’s ratings have dropped after the departure of multiple stars, including Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Jon Oliver, Jason Jones and Samantha Bee, all of whom have gone on to other networks. Herzog also has recently made other executive changes at the networks he oversees, hiring Sean Atkins to be president of MTV last September. Last week, MTV named former Major League Baseball chief marketing officer Jacqueline Parkes as EVP of marketing and creative, and Lifetime’s SVP and head of non-scripted Eli Lehrer as EVP overseeing MTV2.

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“It has been a tremendous honor to lead the staggeringly talented team here for the past 12 years, and an absolute privilege to help build the cultural force that is Comedy Central today. The deep connection I have to it and to so many of my colleagues, especially my dear friend and mentor Doug [Herzog], made this decision incredibly difficult. But after considerable thought, I have decided that the time is right to move on and challenge myself in new ways,” said Ganeless in a statement.

READ MORE: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Variety

[Image of Ganeless, Alterman courtesy of Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock via Variety]

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