Susanne Daniels Departing MTV

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

MTV president of programming Susanne Daniels is leaving the cable network, the second major Viacom Inc. network executive to leave the company in as many days.

Daniels left the company to take over original content duties for YouTube. MTV is not expected to fill Daniels' position, according to sources close to the situation.

Daniels is the second Viacom Inc. network executive to leave the company this week following the departure earlier of VH1 president Tom Calderone.

Earlier in the day Mina Lefevre was promoted to executive vice president and head of scripted development for the network. Lefevre joined MTV in 2013 as senior vice president of scripted programming, launching such original scripted series as Scream, Finding Carter, and Faking It.

Lefevre will report to Friedman.

"Mina has an incredible talent for developing entirely new worlds, stories, and characters that always feel relatable and real to our fans,” said Friedman in a statement.  “As MTV continues to pursue even more ambitious scripted projects, we’re thrilled to have the leadership of a creative, collaborative executive like Mina.”

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.