Sarah Babineau Slated to Depart Comedy Central

By Brian Steinberg

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Sarah Babineau, who in recent years enjoyed a heady rise at Comedy Central, is slated to depart the ViacomCBS network by the end of the year, the latest executive to leave entertainment operations at the parent company as it continues to work its way through the merger of the former Viacom and CBS late last year.

Babineau, who joined Comedy Central in 2014 as a vice president of original programming, helped launch Trevor Noah’s tenure on “The Daily Show” and had strong creative ties to well-regarded series such as “Broad City” and “Inside Amy Schumer.”

A network spokesperson said Babineau would stay with the network through the end of 2020. Deadline previously reported that Babineau would leave, and reported that Keith Cox, will take up the duties of overseeing scripted development and studio production across the entire portfolio of youth-and-entertainment focused cable networks that now report to Chris McCarthy. Justin Rosenblatt, will focus on comedic programming across the cable networks.

In an internal memo distributed Wednesday, CEO  Bob Bakish called the last few weeks “challenging,” referring to the recent coronavirus outbreak, but said that the company’s efforts to continue integrating Viacom and CBS were  “critical.”

At Amazon, Babineau served as a development and programming executive, and helped launch Amazon’s foray into original comedy, including series such as “Transparent: and “Mozart in the Jungle.” She also had ties to Kent Alterman, who previously ran Comedy Central and helped launch many of its recent signature programs.