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    President of MTV out after a year 

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1554 Views
    In this April 21, 2016 file photo, MTV president, Sean Atkins participates in MTV's 2016 Upfronts in New York. Atkins, who came to MTV from Discovery, quit Monday, Oct. 24, after the network's parent company installed another executive over him. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP, File)
    NEW YORK (AP) --

    MTV's president is out after only a year as the network once at the center of youth culture continues to struggle for relevance.

    Sean Atkins, who came to MTV from Discovery, quit Monday after the network's parent company installed another executive over him. Chris McCarthy, who's had some success overseeing sister networks VH1 and Logo, will now supervise MTV as well.

    MTV has fought for attention with a youthful audience whose allegiances change quickly. The network averaged 1.48 million viewers in prime time at the end of 2011, and was down to 550,000 for the three months that ended Sept. 31, the Nielsen company said.

    During the past year, viewership declined 16 percent, and 23 percent among MTV's target audience of people aged 18 to 34, Nielsen said.

    Its most popular shows – "Teen Mom," ''Teen Wolf" and "Are You the One?" – have been around for a few years.

    Atkins said he'd stay on the job as a consultant until January.

    McCarthy was given the promotion by Doug Herzog, president of the Viacom Music and Entertainment Group. As leader of VH1 since last year, McCarthy has seen ratings go up while targeting an audience of older millennials. VH1 is planning a cooking series co-starring Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg, a series called "Daytime Divas" starring Vanessa Williams and a revival of "America's Next Top Model."

    McCarthy has had a determined rise at Viacom, starting at the college network mtvU.

    Tags:Chris McCarthyMTVSean Atkins



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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