Jamie Kellner is one of a select number of individuals responsible for dictating the terms by which television made its transition from broadcasting to narrowcast­. By helping to create both the FOX Broadcasting Network as well as the WB, Kellner played a crucial role in redefining how the networks do business. And by leading in the restructuring of the Turner Broadcasting System's entertainment properties, Kellner also improved the relationship between broadcast networks and cable channels. Although he is most often identified for his contributions to television sales, marketing, and distribution, Kellner has been equally central in shaping television programming for the last three decades.

     Kellner began his career in the entertainment industry in the CBS executive training program in 1969. After working in a number of different departments at the company, he found a permanent position in the syndication division. When, in 1972, CBS was forced to dispose of this division due to antitrust considerations, Kellner remained with the spun-off group, which was renamed Viacom. He quickly moved up the ranks of Viacom's syndication and sales department to become vice president of first-run programming, development, and sales.

     In 1978 Kellner moved from Viacom to the film and television producer-distributor, Filmways, where he shepherded a number of shows into syndication, including Saturday Night Live. When Orion Pictures took over the firm in 1982, Kellner was one of a handful of Filmways employees to stay on with the company. At Orion, Kellner was responsible for supervising and operating the company's programming, home video, pay television, and syndication operations. He oversaw the network and syndicated launch of Cagney and Lacey as well as the introduction of a new version of Hollywood Squares.

     As a result of the profit participation earnings from Filmways and Orion shows, Kellner was financially secure by the mid-1980s. This enabled him to make the leap into the risky venture being undertaken by News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and FOX, Inc. chairman Barry Diller in 1986: the development of a fourth network, the FOX Broadcasting Company.

     Kellner was the first executive hired by Diller. At FOX, he built and then maintained the new network's affiliate base, sold programming to advertisers, and established relationships with program producers. He also formed alliances with cable operators-necessary because of FOX's inability to secure broadcast affiliates in some markets.

     In his position as the head of the first new network to be created in over 30 years-a network emerging at a time of dramatic technological and industrial transformation-Kellner was on uncertain terrain. Yet he made a number of moves that appear prescient in retrospect. Among the most significant was the attempt to carve out a clear "brand identity" for FOX by targeting 18-to-49-year-olds with more explicit, graphic, and cutting-edge material than could be found on ABC, CBS, or NBC. Shows such as Cops, Married ... With Children, Beverly Hills, 90210, The Simpsons, and America's Most Wanted were developed under his supervision.

     Kellner recognized that a younger audience was important not only to FOX's growth in prime time, but also crucial to the network's expansion in daytime programming. Operating under the assumption that if children know about a channel, then the rest of the audience would follow, Kellner encouraged the development of the FOX Kids Network, which targeted children ages 2 to 11 with programming such as X-Men, Beetlejuice, and Batman: The Animated Series. The FOX Kids Network, which began airing shows on weekdays and Saturday mornings in the fall of 1990, operated as a joint effort between FOX and its affiliates, with profits split between the two entities.

     Although the FOX Kids Network would be Kell­ner's first large-scale venture into children's programming and distribution, it would not be his last. He applied the lessons learned from his experiences with FOX to the strategies he employed in developing children's programming at America's fifth network, the WB. After departing from FOX in early 1993 and taking a brief break, Kellner returned to television in August of the same year to become the WB's CEO. In his move to the WB, Kellner brought with him many of the same executives who helped him develop FOX, including Garth Ancier and Susanne Daniels.

     While at the WB, Kellner continued to be involved in both the business and the creative aspects of running a network, precisely as he had done at FOX. From a business perspective, he sought to make the WB even more youth-oriented than FOX by pursuing a 12-to-34 demographic in prime time. Teenagers, especially girls and young women, were particularly important to the nascent network and were targeted with such shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and Dawson's Creek.

     Kellner's performance with the WB was viewed as such a success by parent company AOL Time Warner that the company elevated him to chairman and CEO of the Turner Broadcasting System in March 2001. While he continued to oversee the WB, he now supervised all of the Turner properties both domestically and internationally. These included CNN, TNT, TBS, The Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies, the Atlanta Braves, and the Atlanta Hawks. Among his most pressing tasks were revitalizing the sagging CNN divisions (e.g., Headline News, CNN) and reviving the TBS and TNT brands by making them appeal to more affluent audiences.

     In February 2003, however, Kellner opted for a change of pace, leaving Atlanta and his position at Turner to return to Los Angeles and his former role as chairman and chief executive officer of the WB. With this move, he intended to direct the leadership transition for the network-a transition culminating with Kellner's retirement in summer 2004.