• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, January 14, 2009

Ed Carroll, who headed Bravo before it was sold to NBC Universal and had a role in establishing "Mad Men" as an AMC hit, has been named COO of Cablevision's Rainbow unit.

He had been president since 2004 of the group--whose portfolio also includes the We network, and more recently the Sundance Channel.

Carroll will continue to report to Rainbow CEO Josh Sapan. Rainbow credited Carroll with helping to upgrade the image of the networks-- particularly AMC, which had been ad-free for many years before a switchover several years back.

During his days at Bravo as general manager before the NBCU transaction, the network launched "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," which set it on its current pace of a pop-culture-focused network with an emphasis on reality programming.

Sapan said: "Ed has that rare combination of creativity and business acumen and has been a key architect behind the recent original programming successes across our networks ... "

After Carroll left Bravo, he oversaw the IFC network for two years. That network has been paired with the recently acquired Sundance Channel under the Rainbow umbrella.

Carroll joined Rainbow in 1987.