Deborah Barak, a veteran CBS executive who supervised and shaped partnerships for the Grammys, the TV show Survivor, and the CBS All Access platform, has passed away, know her cause of death
She was a 65-year-old. She spearheaded several high-profile acquisitions for the network, earning her a reputation as a skilled negotiator.
Deborah Barak of CBS cause of death, age, family, husband, children, career
CBS confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Barak had died on Saturday at her Studio City home, surrounded by loved ones. The former CBS Entertainment, CBS Television Studios, and CBS News executive was diagnosed with cancer.
Deborah Barak Dies: Former Top CBS Business Executive Was 65 pic.twitter.com/XBWIM7b76a
— Died Suddenly Worldwide (@_DiedSuddenly) January 23, 2023
In 1985, Barak became a part of CBS’s legal team on the West Coast as the network’s broadcast counsel. During her nearly four decades at the company, which came to an end in the early 2020 after she served as president, business operations, CBS Entertainment, CBS Television Studios, and CBS News for five years.
She held numerous positions that established the foundation for the company’s talent, producer, and programme licencing agreements. She also created innovative business concepts that changed the face of CBS’s late-night and reality shows.
Deborah Barak lead high profile shows on CBS
As the CBS representative on the board that oversaw The CW, Barak was in charge of negotiating the renewals of several high-profile TV licences, such as The Late Show with David Letterman, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, and the Grammys, the Country Music Awards, and the Kennedy Center Honors.
Not only did her work on the first Survivor cast contract help the programme run smoothly for decades, but it also created the standard for reality TV celebrity contracts. She was instrumental in CBS Television Studios’ transition from leased to fully-owned late-night programming by negotiating talent. And production agreements for the first late-night series produced by the studio, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Late Show with James Corden. She also pioneered the concept of show ownership on CBS’s primetime lineup.
Deborah Barak signed many important contracts
Ahead of her departure from CBS in 2020, she was instrumental in brokering a distribution and co-production contract with Imagine Entertainment and the network’s purchase of an interest in Kapital Entertainment.
Barak spent the previous five years (2010-2015) as executive vice president of business operations for the CBS Network Television Entertainment Group before being promoted to his current position as president of business operations.
Deborah Barak help the top position at CBS
Before that, she was senior vice president of business affairs at CBS Entertainment and senior vice president of business planning and special projects at CBS Network Television Entertainment Group. Associate at O’Melveny & Myers before joining the studio. Barak attended UCLA and then Loyola Legal School in Los Angeles to earn his law degree.
She is survived by her mother, Beverly, sister and brother-in-law (Sherri and Paul Cunningham), son and daughter-in-law (Jonathan and Hanna), daughters (Sarah and Aaron Buchsbaum, and Hannah and Paul Brumfield), and four cherished grandchildren.
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