McGrath to Head MTV Music Group
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 3/15/2002 1:07:00 PM
In a major Viacom Inc. reorganization, longtime VH1 president John Sykes was named chairman and CEO of Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting Corp. radio operations.
MTV: Music Television president Judy McGrath was promoted Friday to MTV Networks Music Group president, and she will oversee VH1, Country Music Television and the MTV digital networks.
Sykes will report to Viacom president and CEO Mel Karmazin and oversee the operations of Infinity's 183 owned-and-operated radio stations, Viacom officials said.
"Viacom is extremely fortunate to have the depth of management to be able to elevate a great executive like John to an important new role," Karmazin said in a prepared statement. "With 25 years in the music industry and having worked successfully in every facet of the business, John is the absolute ideal person to lead Infinity Radio, one of Viacom's largest generators of revenue and earnings."
In his eight years overseeing VH1, the network has grown from a stepsister service of MTV to a solid, stand-alone channel with more than 80 million subscribers, mostly on the heels of documentary-style shows like Behind the Music.
But VH1's ratings have fallen over the past year as the network's primary audience has grown older, and the service has yet to develop successful, signature-branded original programming to reach younger viewers.
VH1's primetime ratings were down 25 percent from February 2001 to February 2002, according to Nielsen Media Research figures. The network's most recent batch of new original shows has thus far generated lukewarm ratings.
While at VH1, Sykes also spearheaded "VH1 Save the Music," a pro-social initiative to help restore and support music education in the nation's public schools,
For McGrath, the appointment puts virtually all of MTV's music networks -- as well as its Internet businesses, digital music brands and all other ancillary businesses related to these brands -- under her wing.
"This is a unique new role for Judy and allows us to tap into, in a much bigger way, her depth of creative talent, perspective, business acumen, branding expertise and relationships with the music industry to work for all of our four strong music brands," MTV chairman and CEO Tom Freston said in a statement.
MTV and MTV2 president Van Toffler, as well as CMT general manager Brian Phillips, will report directly to McGrath.
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