Viacom rebuild continues with new appointments

Bob Bakish’s restructuring of US media giant Viacom has continued with appointment of a music programming chief, general managers for Comedy Central and TV Land, and an original series producer at VH1.

Bakish has been marking his stamp on the troubled company since becoming president and CEO, focusing efforts around core brands, and building bridges between domestic and international brands.

To that end, he had named Brice Gillmer as head of music and music talent for the Viacom Global Entertainment Group, a new role that hands him control of music programming, talent and events across the channel portfolio.

“Music is a common thread that unites much of Viacom’s portfolio around the world, and we want to find even more powerful ways to connect artists and fans by leveraging our global scale, talent relationships, and programming expertise,” said Bakish.

Gillmer will continue in his role as Viacom International Media Networks executive VP of music and talent programming and events, and co-brand lead for MTV International along with VIMN UK’s chief marketing officer and MTV International senior VP Kerry Taylor.

He will continue to report directly to Bakish, and oversee music events such as MTV EMAs and MTV Video Music Awards.

Elsewhere, his former channel, VH1, has hired FYI exec Liz Fine as senior VP of original series, reporting to Nina L. Diaz, head of unscripted for VH1 and MTV, according to Deadline.

VH1 is taking on broadcast of LGBTQ network Logo’s popular reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race after eight seasons, as the centralisation of content around core network brands continues.

Over at Comedy Central, Viacom research veteran Tanya Giles has been named general manager, with David Bernath leaving the company after twelve years as a result.

She will report to Kent Alterman, Comedy Central president, who has also restructured the network by bringing the development and talent teams together. That has also led to the departure of SVP, original programming, Gary Mann.

Another long-serving Viacom exec, Frank Tanki, has been upped to GM of TV Land, which is now overseen by Spike president Kevin Kay.

TV Land hasn’t had a GM since Larry Jones, who was promoted to president before exiting in a previous restructure under former Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman.

Tanki will report to Kay, who recently named Kevin Cox as president, development and programming at Paramount Network. Spike veteran Sharon Levy is also exiting.