ITV

Tag: Larry Divney

  • MTV Networks appoints Larry Divney as ad sales president

    MUMBAI: MTV Networks chairman and CEO Judy McGrath announced several changes to the MTV Networks ad sales organisation. McGrath has named Larry Divney to the position of president, MTV Networks ad sales.
     
     
    Additionally, Doug Rohrer has been named executive vice president and senior advisor to Divney focusing on a variety of areas including emerging new media platforms. Sue Danaher will continue in her current role and will also report directly to Divney.
     
     
    In his new role, Divney will be responsible for managing the entire sales organisation and its systems for all the company’s cable television networks and online businesses, including MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, CMT, Spike TV and LOGO. In addition, Divney will help to craft new sales strategies and ad sales systems for the company’s many successful brands and businesses.
     

    “Larry had the shortest retirement in our company history and now has the fastest promotion track,” said McGrath. “Larry is perhaps the single most experienced and gifted manager in the cable television business. His leadership and sales strategy genius will enable MTVN ad sales to deliver at a whole new level. I’m really looking forward to working with him and so glad he has decided to take on this new role.”

    The appointment marks a homecoming for Divney, who was MTV’s first vice president of ad sales, starting in 1981. After his initial stint at MTV, Divney worked at a number of seminal cable television operations, including Cable Health Network (now Lifetime) as the vice president of market development and sales, and at CNN as vice president and national sales manager for CNN and CNN Headline News, followed by four years as vice president national sales manager of A&E.

    Most notably, Divney was part of the founding leadership team of Comedy Central when it launched in 1991 and played a huge part in making the network the most successful comedy brand on television. Divney was appointed CEO of Comedy Central in 1999.

    Rohrer, on the other hand, will be responsible for helping to create strategies for ad sales on the many new digital platforms being developed by MTV Networks and for guiding future sales initiatives.

  • Viacom confirms Comedy Central acquisition

    Viacom confirms Comedy Central acquisition

    NEW YORK: Viacom Inc has announced today that it has reached an agreement with AOL Time Warner to acquire AOL’s 50 per cent interest in Comedy Central, for a total of $1.225 billion.

    After the transaction is completed by the second quarter of 2003, Comedy Central will be wholly owned by Viacom and will join MTV Networks’ lineup of basic cable channels. Larry Divney will remain president of Comedy Central and the network will continue to be based in New York and Los Angeles, according to Viacom.

    This is the first asset sale by AOL Time Warner as executives try to revive growth at the world’s largest media company and to restore investor credibility by cutting its approximate $29 billion in total debt, according to Reuters. Comedy Central, which airs shows like bawdy, animated South Park and the nightly satirical newscast The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, has thrived financially for the competing media titans.

    Also included in the transaction is comedycentral.com, which features original programs, schedule information, advanced technology, games, downloads and an online store. Comedy Central, which reaches 82 million US homes, was launched on April Fool’s Day 1991 after Home Box Office, owned by AOL Time Warner, merged its Comedy Channel with MTV Networks’ HA! comedy network, owned by Viacom.

    Te network, one of the few examples of a successful media joint venture, has gained a reputation for continuing to push the limits of what can be broadcast on TV with sharp political satire and increasingly popular gross-out humour.

    It has humorously covered political events and introduced original shows, such as “Mystery Science Theater 3000” and “Politically Incorrect,” each of which garnered Emmy Award nominations and eventually landed on other networks.

    Viacom chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone has been quoted as saying, “Expanding our interest in cable networks, one of the fastest growing and most promising areas of the media industry, remains a priority for Viacom. Bringing one of the top cable networks brands fully into our family is a significant and important transaction both financially and creatively that will bring significant benefits to Viacom and its shareholders.”