Viacom Appoints U.K. Acquisitions Head

LONDON: Katie Keenan, who is currently the head of acquisitions for Channel 5, has become the head of acquisitions for Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) U.K., covering all of its TV channels in the country.

Keenan will be responsible for acquiring programming for Channel 5 as well as Comedy Central, MTV and other VIMN services. She will continue to report to Channel 5’s director of programming, Ben Frow, but will also have a reporting line to Jill Offman, the senior VP and managing director for Comedy Central UK, for Comedy Central acquisitions. 

At the same time, VIMN has also confirmed the appointment of Vanessa Brookman and Craig Morris as the respective programming leads for 5* and Spike UK, due to launch in the spring of 2015. Morris, who is also head of channel management at Channel 5, and Brookman, who remains VP of programming for MTV UK, will also report to Frow in their new roles overseeing programming for Spike UK and 5*. Brookman will additionally continue to report to Kerry Taylor, the senior VP and general manager of MTV UK.

David Lynn, the president of VIMN U.K., said: “Viacom can now call on exceptional executive talent—like Katie, Craig and Vanessa—within both Channel 5 and our pay TV businesses to strengthen our overall UK operations. Our U.K. channels buy a lot of U.S. content and it makes both financial and creative sense to centralize our approach in this important area of our business.”