Kevin Reilly Named Content Chief for WarnerMedia Streaming Service
Kevin Reilly — a veteran television exec who has led programming at NBC, FX, Fox, and most recently Turner Broadcasting — has been tapped to head content strategy for the still-nascent streaming service that WarnerMedia plans to launch next year.
Reilly, who has led programming at Turner brands TNT and TBS since 2015, will serve as president TBS, TNT and chief creative officer Turner and direct-to-consumer. In his new role, he will continue to head content for Turner, where he launched programs such as “The Alienist,” “Claws,” “Search Party,” and “Angie Tribeca.” He will add to his purview programming for the streaming service, a major venture that is the fruit of AT&T’s successful bid, finalized this year, to acquire the erstwhile TimeWarner. With that agreement, AT&T took hold of a suite of legacy entertainment brands — Warner Bros., HBO, and Turner.
In his new role, Reilly will report to WarnerMerdia chief executive John Stankey and Turner president David Levy.
Stankey revealed in October that WarnerMedia would launch a direct-to-consumer streaming service next year. Speaking at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit that month, Stankey said that the company would deploy its studios and library content in service of a platform designed to compete in the streaming wars being fought by Netflix, Amazon, and (soon) Disney.
“This is another benefit of the AT&T-Time Warner merger, and we are committed to launching a compelling and competitive product that will serve as a complement to our existing businesses and help us to expand our reach by offering a new choice for entertainment with the WarnerMedia collection of films, television series, libraries, documentaries and animation,” Stankey said in an announcement at the time.
Last month, WarnerMedia announced that Brad Bently, previously head of marketing for AT&T Entertainment Group and DirecTV, would lead the new streaming service as GM and executive VP for direct-to-consumer development at WarnerMedia. The company also named Jeremy Legg, Turner’s chief technology officer, the new head of technology operations for HBO, Turner, and streaming product.
Reilly served as a programming executive at NBC under Warren Littlefield during the Must See TV era. He want on to work at Brillstein-Grey Entertainment before moving to FX as president of entertainment. He later returned to NBC, becoming entertainment president. He then served in the same role at Fox, where he guided the network to multiple first-place ratings finishes in the 18-49 demo. Among the series he has worked on over the course of his career are “ER,” “The Sopranos,” “The Shield,” “30 Rock,” and “Bob’s Burgers.”
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