Deirdre Brennan named Sprout GM

Ten months after taking up the role of VP of content at Canada's Corus Kids, Brennan will be at the helm of the NBCUniversal-owned preschool net as GM next month.
January 18, 2017

After less than a year as content VP at Canada’s Corus Kids, Deirdre Brennan will head south of the border next month to NBCUniversal-owned preschool net Sprout.

As GM of the New York-based net, Brennan will oversee all aspects of Sprout’s linear and digital programming, marketing, business strategy and performance. She will manage the greenlight process and work closely with producers and global broadcasters, as well as with the international creative community to bolster the network’s relationships with top talent, writers and showrunners.

Brennan will also work alongside all NBCUniversal businesses, including Universal Brand Development, Universal Cable Productions and DreamWorks, to optimize projects that grow the company’s overall kids strategy.

She will report directly to Frances Berwick, president of Lifestyle Networks at NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment.

Brennan’s move is timed with Sprout’s growing mandate to produce more original content—an area in which she is very familiar. At Corus, Brennan oversaw the development, management and execution of the Corus Kids slate of programming, including YTV, Treehouse, Nickelodeon, TELETOON, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD.  She made the move to Canada last March from her former role as head of Children’s Television, ABC TV, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, where she led programming, acquisition and commissioning across ABC KIDS, ABC3 and ABC Children’s online and mobile offerings.

Prior to that, she was director of Content, Australia & New Zealand for BBC Worldwide.  She also served as director of programming at Nickelodeon Australia.

A Corus representative has confirmed that there are no current plans to replace Brennan’s role. Moving forward, her team will report to Daniel Eves, SVP of kids and general entertainment at the media conglomerate.




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