Viacom Forms Program Acquisitions Group

NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) today announced the formation of a Program Acquisitions Group to coordinate the company's domestic program acquisition activity across its portfolio of domestic media networks, including BET, Centric, MTV, VH1, CMT, Comedy Central, Spike TV, TV Land, Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite.

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The Program Acquisitions Group will unify the planning and analysis, inventory management, acquisition process and buying activity for all Viacom Media Networks' domestic program acquisitions. The group will be jointly led by David Bernath, Executive Vice President, Programming & Multiplatform Strategy for Comedy Central, and Barbara Zaneri, who will assume the newly created role of Executive Vice President of Program Acquisitions. Program acquisitions executives at each of the individual networks will continue to lead the selection of acquisitions for their respective channels.

In her new role, Zaneri will lead negotiations for all domestic program acquisitions within Viacom Media Networks, working closely with the relevant network program acquisitions executive. She will also be responsible for all domestic multi-channel program acquisitions. Zaneri will report directly to Rich Eigendorff, Chief Operating Officer of Viacom Media Networks.  Bernath will be responsible for coordinating all of Viacom's domestic program acquisitions activity.  He will continue to report to Michele Ganeless, President of Comedy Central, and will report to Rich Eigendorff in his Program Acquisitions Group role.

"Synchronizing our program buying activities across the Viacom portfolio will afford us the opportunity to further integrate our businesses and forge innovative partnerships," said Eigendorff. "With Barbara and Dave's creative approaches to seeking and securing off-net rights, we will continue to strengthen our robust mix of original programming with acquisitions and maximize value for our brands and our audiences."

Most recently, Zaneri served as Executive Vice President of Program Strategy, Acquisitions and Scheduling for BET Networks, overseeing the long-term planning and short-term scheduling of both BET and Centric, which has played a strategic role in delivering record-breaking results.

Bernath oversees the strategy and programming of Comedy Central content across linear TV, comedycentral.com, VOD, SVOD, mobile and new emerging platforms.

About Viacom

Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form video, apps, games, consumer products, social media and other entertainment content for audiences in more than 160 countries and territories.  Viacom's media networks, including MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, BET, CENTRIC, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, Nick at Nite, Comedy Central, TV Land, SPIKE, Tr3s, Paramount Channel and VIVA, reach approximately 700 million television subscribers worldwide.  Paramount Pictures, America's oldest film studio, is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.

For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com.   Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom's blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/viacom.

SOURCE Viacom Inc.