• by Wayne Friedman , October 25, 2018

Viacom is restructuring its TV networks into four groups -- mostly along common programming segments.

One group will be composed mainly around music-focused and unscripted content -- MTV, VH1, Logo, and CMT. Chris McCarthy, who had been president of MTV, VH1 and Logo, will now include CMT as part of his responsibilities.

Three other networks -- Comedy Central, Paramount Network and TV Land -- will comprise another group, with Kent Alterman as its president. Alterman has been president of Comedy Central since 2016.

“Comedy Central, Paramount Network and TV Land share an original content strategy anchored in scripted programming,” stated Bob Bakish, president-CEO, Viacom.

Two other groups -- BET Networks and Nickelodeon -- will see no changes.

Viacom says the new groupings will help Viacom executives coordinate scheduling and programming as well as share production, talent relationships and other resources.

As part of this restructuring, Kevin Kay will depart as president of Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT.

In September, the Pivotal Research Group says, Viacom had the largest share among all TV network groups for Nielsen adult 18-49 C3 commercial ratings, at 15.8%. This was up 15.3% versus the year before.

The gain came from an increase in the average number of commercial minutes per hour: from 14.5 minutes to 15.1 minutes.

C3 ratings are the average commercial minute rating plus three days of time-shifted viewing.