Sykes Leaving Post at MTV Networks

Ex-VH1 Chief Had Tried To Launch Boomer Services For Viacom Nets

By R. Thomas Umstead & Kent Gibbons -- Multichannel News, 3/11/2008 9:38:00 AM MT

MTV Networks veteran John Sykes is leaving his job as president of network development, without achieving his goal of launching new standalone cable or online networks for MTVN, people familiar with the situation say.

An internal announcement regarding Sykes’s departure is in the works, a MTVN representative confirmed. "It's his decision," the MTVN official said Tuesday. "He did develop some concepts, but at the end of the day we are focused on exploding our existing brands into these platforms, so it was not the right time for these."

The former Infinity Broadcasting Corp. CEO and VH1 president rejoined Viacom-owned MTVN in 2005 to spearhead the development of new cable networks and online services, many of them expected to target the baby boom generation.

At first he was said to be working on co-branded cable services with Comcast, which did not materialize, and later was said to be developing standalone broadband services centered on boomer lifestyle interests such as health, personal finances and music.

During an earnings call in November 2006, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman touted the prospects of Sykes's projects: “We have kicked around some ideas in this company for a while on how to appeal to an adult demographic,” Dauman said at the time. “One of our most creative executives has been working on that notion and has created several very compelling ideas for digital networks with very interesting concepts that are not really out there yet that will serve this adult demographic. I don’t want to jump the gun on the specifics, because I want to leave MTV Networks Group the opportunity to tell you about it with full fanfare. But I think it’s an exciting initiative on our part that will expand our reach.”

MTVN has yet to launch any mainstream, stand-alone networks during his tenure, and new online sites have mostly come from within MTVN networks themselves such as MTV’s virtual online sites around shows like Laguna Beach.

Sykes first worked for MTV as a programming executive in the early 1980s before taking over as VH1’s president in 1994. While there, he helped create VH1’s groundbreaking “Save the Music” program to help fund music education programs in public schools.

He left VH1 for Infinity Broadcasting, Viacom's radio division, in 2002 before his 2005 return.