Barnett leaves AMC Networks

Sarah Barnett

Sarah Barnett, the president of AMC Networks Entertainment Group in the US, is stepping down from her role.

Barnett has worked at AMC Networks for more than 10 years, overseeing its suite of cablenets and digital platforms including AMC, BBC America, IFC and Sundance TV, as well as AMC Studios.

Joining the company in 2008 when it acquired Sundance TV – then known as Sundance Channel – she rose from senior VP of marketing for the channel to president and general manager, before transitioning to the same role at BBC America and finally taking over as head of AMC Networks Entertainment Group.

She will officially leave after Labor Day in September, after which AMC Networks’ chief operating officer Ed Carroll will oversee the company’s entertainment networks on an interim basis.

Meanwhile, Dan McDermott, president of original programming and co-president of AMC Studios, will take on oversight of content for the entertainment group.

“This is a year that has confronted us with radical change on multiple fronts. After a lot of consideration – and with a slightly breaking heart – I have decided that it is the right time for me to follow my curiosity and leave things in the very capable hands of the outstanding team at AMC Networks,” Barnett said.

Carroll added: “Sarah came to AMC Networks more than a decade ago, when we acquired Sundance Channel. She immediately put her stamp on Sundance with fresh, impactful storytelling like Rectify and Top of the Lake, which continued when she took the reins of BBC America, growing Orphan Black, the network’s natural history franchises and developing the critical and audience hit Killing Eve.”