Viacom has formed a new unit to coordinate all its domestic program acquisitions.
The new Program Acquisitions Group will be led by David Bernath, Comedy Central's executive VP, programming & multiplatform strategy and Barbara Zaneri, who assumes the new titles of executive VP of program acquisitions for Viacom Media Networks. The group will be consolidate the acquisition activity across all of the company's domestic networks including BET, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1 and Spike TV.
Bernath will oversee and coordinate all acquisitions activity while Zaneri will lead negotiations and will also be responsible for all multi-channel acquisitions.
"Synchronizing our program buying activities across the Viacom portfolio will afford us the opportunity to further integrate our businesses and forge innovative partnerships," said Viacom Media Networks COO Rich 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."
