Corus’s Brennan to join Sprout

NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment has poached the VP of content at Corus Entertainment in Canada to oversee its children’s network Sprout.

Deirdre Brennan

Deirdre Brennan, whose stint at Corus lasted just under a year, will relocate from Toronto to Sprout’s offices in New York in February.

As general manager, Brennan will report to Frances Berwick, president, lifestyle networks at Comcast-owned NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment.

The exec, who C21 revealed had joined Corus in early 2016 from ABC in Australia, will be in charge of all aspects of the 24-hour channel’s programming, marketing, business strategy and performance.

The former BBC Worldwide and Nickelodeon exec will also work across Universal Brand Development, Universal Cable Productions and DreamWorks, which was acquired by NBCUniversal for US$3.8bn last year.

“Sprout is evolving and growing rapidly as we reinvent our business model to an originals-driven brand,” said Berwick.

The appointment comes after the preschool channel named veteran Nickelodeon executive Amy Friedman as its senior VP of programming and development and former Discovery Kids exec Dea Connick Perez as VP of programme strategy and acquisitions.

This followed the departure of president Sandy Wax in February 2016, as revealed by C21.