Viacom said Thursday that it is consolidating all of its domestic program acquisitions activity for its cable networks in a new umbrella group as it looks to strengthen its mix of original programming.
The news is second reorganization in as many days aimed at coordinating certain operations within Viacom across its cable properties. Yesterday the company announced the creation of a new branded content group, dubbed Viacom Velocity.
Viacom Media Networks COO Rich Eigendorff said the new Program Acquisitions Group will synchronize program buying, planning and analysis for BET, Centric, MTV, VH1, CMT, Comedy Central, Spike TV, TV Land, Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite.
David Bernath, EVP of programming and multiplatform strategy at Comedy Central, and Barbara Zaneri, EVP of program acquisitions will jointly lead the new group. Both will report to Eigendorff, although Bernath will still report to Comedy Central President Michelle Ganeless in his role coordinating multiplatform strategy and programming for that network.
Zaneri, who is moving over from BET, is tasked with working closely with relevant network acquisitions execs to lead negotiations for all domestic program buying within Viacom’s portfolio of networks.
Bernath will coordinate all domestic program acquisitors activity.
In a statement, the company noted that “program acquisitions executives at each of the individual networks will continue to lead the selection of acquisitions for their respective channels.”
The move comes at the same time that Viacom is planning a new customized kids’ TV channel called My Nickelodeon Jr that will allow parents to choose what kind of content and programming their children will receive.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that My Nick Jr will combine scheduled and on-demand offerings, and will first be made available to Verizon FIOS customers—although Viacom plans to on-board other operators.
Parents will choose from seven themes—such as “word play” or “get creative"—that will help the channel populate content from among hundreds of episodes in the Nick Jr library.
And children themselves will rate the shows by clicking on smiley faces or frowns to help My Nick Jr adjust its offerings. Parents will also get a readout of what their kids watch.
The new channel will help Verizon and other operators compete against the growing popularity of Netflix and other on-demand services that give viewers greater control over what gets served up to their TV screens.
Read More: The Wall Street Journal
Brief Take: Taken together, Viacom’s reorganization and new channel offering indicate the company is looking to streamline operations to acquire better original content, and offer attractive, innovative programming to providers.
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