Viacom Restructuring Sees Promotions for Doug Herzog, Cyma Zarghami

NEW YORK: Viacom is restructuring what was three business groups into two new organizations: the Viacom Music and Entertainment Group, with brands such as MTV, Logo, VH1, Comedy Central and Spike, and the Viacom Kids and Family Group.

Philippe Dauman, Viacom's president and CEO, unveiled details of the restructure in an internal memo.

Doug Herzog will lead the newly formed Viacom Music and Entertainment Group, while Cyma Zarghami will head up the expanded Viacom Kids and Family Group.

"The new groups are an enormous opportunity for us to take advantage of our strong creative teams, to share our expertise, and to promote greater cross marketing and, in some cases, cross-channel programming activity," said Dauman.

The Viacom Music and Entertainment Group will consist of MTV, MTV2, Logo, VH1, Comedy Central and Spike, as well as the related digital networks and MTV’s “Always On.” This group will house a portfolio of popular programs, ranging from Teen Wolf and the VMAs on MTV and Guy Code on MTV2, to Bar Rescue and Ink Master on Spike, to Love & Hip Hop on VH1, Broad City and South Park on Comedy Central, and RuPaul’s Drag Race on Logo. 

The Viacom Kids and Family Group will comprise all the brands currently in the Nickelodeon Group, including Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nick at Nite, NickMom and NickToons, as well as TV Land, CMT and CMT Pure Country. The group will encompass content such as TV Land's Younger and the CMT Music Awards, alongside Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and TeenNick programs like SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards.

Herzog joined MTV in 1984 and rose to become president of MTV Productions, and later, president of Comedy Central. Before rejoining Viacom in 2004, he served as the president of USA Network and also president of entertainment for FOX Broadcasting Company. Zarghami joined Nickelodeon in 1985, was named general manager of Nickelodeon in 1996 and became group president in 2006.

Both Herzog and Zarghami, along with Debi Lee at BET Networks, Bob Bakish at Viacom International Media Networks and Brad Grey at Paramount Pictures, will continue to report to Dauman. TV Land will move to the Viacom Kids and Family Group immediately, and the other networks will transition between now and mid-April.

"Our industry is in transition and change does not always come easy, but we have a tremendous amount of talent at Viacom and we are innovating at every level and at every brand," Dauman said. "We are working hard to adapt to changing audience behavior, to incorporate new forms of distribution and to better integrate technology into everything we do. That includes our expanded data and research capabilities; our multiplatform, multi-distributor approach; our groundbreaking advertising sales units, Velocity and Echo; and our new central hub for digital research and development, The Viacom Lab. Just to name a few.

"I have great confidence that by working together to embrace the changing landscape and by continuing to bring our best creative work to audiences—we will succeed.  Thank you for your continued dedication and hard work."