Kent Alterman to replace Michele Ganeless as Comedy Central president

In the wake of dramatic ratings declines at Comedy Central, the Viacom unit is restructuring its management team.

Kent Alterman will become Comedy Central president, replacing Michele Ganeless, who has spent 25 years at the network. She shepherded such programs as “The Daily Show,” “The Colbert Report,” “South Park” and “Key & Peele.”

Ganeless has been at the helm of Comedy Central for 12 years and will exit at the end of this month. She will take on an advisory role through September.

Alterman is no stranger to the Comedy Central machine. He had been second in command to Ganeless in his role as original programming president, in which he oversaw such series as “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” “Inside Amy Schumer” and “Broad City.”

In his new role, he will report directly to Doug Herzog, president of resident of the Viacom Music and Entertainment Group.

Ganeless had been at the helm during particularly critical junctures for the network in recent months. She oversaw the network’s late-night transition following the departures of mainstays Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. And she’s had to contend with declining ratings at the networks.

Her contract was also up this year and, according to Ganeless, she decided to “move on and challenge myself in new ways.”

In a memo sent to staff that was obtained by The Times, Herzog praised Ganeless for her work at the network.

“Her strong and strategic leadership have helped build Comedy Central into one of the most admired and culturally relevant brands across the entire media and content spectrum,” he wrote.

The change in leadership is one of many that have hit Viacom’s group of networks recently. MTV and VH1 have also undergone management restructuring.

As part of the change at Comedy Central, David Bernath, who had up until now served as executive vice president of programming and multiplatform strategy, has been promoted to Comedy Central GM. He’ll report to Alterman.

Herzog, in an official statement, touted Alterman’s knack for identifying talent and Bernath’s multi-platform abilities as a powerful combination for Comedy Central.

“Kent has an extraordinary talent for uncovering and elevating original comedic voices who bring a distinct point of view to the table,” Herzog said. “When you combine that with Dave’s strong leadership and his ability to make comedy resonate on every platform, you get a team that will be super-focused on delivering the best comedic content to our fans wherever they are.”

He cut his teeth heading its New York development team, from the mid-’90s through 2000, before leaving for Fox Film Studios and New Line. He returned to the company in 2010 and went from executive vice president to president of original programming.