Former Fox entertainment chief Kevin Reilly has re-entered talks with Turner Broadcasting this week, a person with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.
Reilly, who parted ways with Fox in June after seven years, is up for the top programming job at the Time Warner company, which houses TBS and TNT, as well as TruTV. That role, which belonged to Michael Wright until August, is to be combined with former Turner Entertainment Networks President Steve Koonin’s old job. Koonin left in April.
Ongoing discussions for the merged role had stopped cold a few weeks ago. Both sides presumed the deal was dead, the person told TheWrap — that is, until recently.
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Wright left the Turner role after 12 years with the company; he went on to replace Stacey Snider at Dreamworks.
Koonin, who is from Atlanta and is credited with bringing Conan O’Brien to TBS, departed to become CEO of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. Wright had been in the running for Koonin’s gig up until he left. After both were out, Turner decided to turn the two roles into one. For a while, Reilly appeared to be the frontrunner. By the sound of it, he is once more.
David Levy is Turner Broadcasting president.
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Reilly’s old Fox job was effectively absorbed by Dana Walden and Gary Newman, when the duo combined the network and studio under one umbrella in July.
Further complicating the Turner scenario are the recent mass layoffs that the company — which also houses cable news channels CNN and HLN — has been undergoing, which you can read about below:
HBO Job Cuts: 150 Staffers Will Be Laid Off This Week
CNN ‘New Day’ Executive Producer Matt Frucci Latest Layoff Casualty
CNN, HLN Layoffs Day 2: ‘Crossfire,’ ‘Unguarded’ With Rachel Nichols, and ‘Sanjay Gupta MD’ Canceled
CNN, HLN Layoffs: Jane Velez-Mitchell Out, Entertainment Unit Disbanded
CNN, HLN Staffers Among Turner Layoffs Hitting Atlanta