Obituary
Jamie Kellner, founding president of Fox Broadcasting in 1987, died Friday of cancer. He was 77. Early in his career, Kellner worked for CBS, later becoming a vice president for Viacom and then joining Filmways. At Fox, he also helped…
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create the Fox Children’s Network. Kellner left there in 1993 and joined Warner Bros., helping launch a fifth broadcast network, the WB. He later became chairman-chief executive of Turner Broadcasting in 2001, overseeing TBS, CNN and TNT. Kellner retired in 2004. He also chaired Acme, a station ownership group, from its creation in 1997 until its demise in 2016. A few months before retiring, Kellner, discussing TV recording devices and DVDs, told TV critics that a decade or so earlier, “as cable spread and satellite was introduced, technology worked to the benefit of both the consumer and the business… . Now it’s becoming the enemy” (see 0401150103). Survivors include his wife, Julie Smith; a daughter, Melissa; a son, Christopher; and three grandchildren.