MTV Names Elli Hakami EVP of Current Series and Programming

MTV President of Programming Susanne Daniels today announced that television programming veteran Elli Hakami will join the network as Executive Vice President of Current Series and Programming. Hakami comes to MTV having generated multiple successes as a producer and an executive in a variety of unscripted formats for a wide range of television networks. Hakami will now oversee the strategic creation and development of MTV's East Coast current reality series in partnership with the network's executive development team. She will be based in New York and report to Daniels.

Daniels stated, "Over the course of her career, Elli has built a great reputation for delivering incredibly rich and diverse programming during her time with BBC Worldwide Productions, Discovery Channel, truTV and more. Her expertise and instincts for finding and developing unique unscripted shows and franchises will be an amazing addition to our creative team at MTV."

"I have always admired MTV's ability to innovate and create break through content so I am thrilled to join Susanne and the MTV team," said Hakami.

Hakami was most recently the Senior Vice President of Programming and Production at BBC Worldwide Productions where she oversaw the development, talent and production teams for their Unscripted Department. During her tenure, Hakami developed and executive produced a dynamic slate of successful on-air series and specials including "What Not to Wear" (TLC), "Richard Hammond's Crash Course" (BBC 2), "Americans in Bed" (HBO), and "Life Below Zero" (National Geographic Channel) which recently premiered as the network's number #1 fall series.

Prior to joining BBC Worldwide Productions, Hakami launched and led Discovery's New York and Los Angeles development offices. While serving as Head of Development, several hit series were created for the channel including: "Gold Rush: Alaska" and "Dual Survivor" as well as some of the network's highest rated Shark Week Specials including: "Shark Feeding Frenzy," "Great White Appetite," "Deadly Waters" and "Surviving Sharks." Additionally, she served as the liaison between Discovery and the major motion picture studios, creating original content integration opportunities including the highly successful "Man V. Wild" Celebrity Specials and "Apocalypse 2012."

Before Discovery, Hakami was a development executive at truTV (formerly Court TV), served as an editor at New York Times Television and worked in HBO's Original Programming, Documentaries unit on a wide variety of non-fiction programs including "America Undercover" and Academy Award nominated "On Tip Toe: Gentle Steps to Freedom."

Hakami holds a B.A. from Brown University and an MFA from Tufts University.

About MTV:

MTV is the world's premier youth entertainment brand. With a global reach of more than a half-billion households, MTV is the cultural home of the millennial generation, music fans and artists, and a pioneer in creating innovative programming for young people. MTV reflects and creates pop culture with its Emmy(R), Grammy(R) and Peabody(R) award-winning content built around compelling storytelling, music discovery and activism across TV, online and mobile. MTV's sibling networks MTV2 and mtvU each deliver unparalleled customized content for young males, music fans and college students, and its online HUB MTV.com is a leading destination for music, news and pop culture. MTV is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.

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