Kevin Reilly to Run Content for WarnerMedia Streaming Service

Television veteran Kevin Reilly is taking a bigger role at his new parent company. 

Reilly, chief creative officer at Turner and president of TNT and TBS, has been appointed chief creative officer for the forthcoming WarnerMedia streaming service. In addition to his current work at Turner, he will add oversight of all content strategy for the service, which is expected to blend programming from HBO and other WarnerMedia brands alongside library content and some licensed fare. Reilly will continue to report to David Levy and will also work directly with WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey on the direct-to-consumer service. 

In a memo to staff, Stankey described Reilly as having “a reputation as a forward thinker when it comes to programming formats and cross-platform opportunities.”

Stankey unveiled plans for the WarnerMedia offering in October. The company has since revealed that it will offer three tiers so that customers can customize their experience. In November, Stankey began to set the organizational structure for the service, announcing that AT&T Entertainment veteran Brad Bentley would run the operation as GM. Going forward, Reilly will oversee the non-HBO side of the WarnerMedia streaming service content offering, including original, library and licensed content. The HBO brand will continue to be supported by the team at the premium cable network.

“There are three legs of a stool to any successful direct-to-consumer effort,” Stankey said in the memo. “A winning customer experience made possible by the technology platform that enables form and function; a compelling marketing strategy that highlights the product’s attributes, brand promise and value proposition; and, for course, a content-curation vision that is tightly coordinated with the other two.”

Reilly has, over his mulitple-decade career, overseen NBC, Fox and FX, along with his current role running TBS and TNT. With a track record for hits that includes ER, 30 Rock and Glee, he will bring a programming point of view to the new streamer. Reilly joined Turner from Fox in 2015 and was tasked with turning the basic cable channels in his portfolio into destinations for must-see TV and, earlier this year, brought the period drama The Alienist to TNT.

Related Stories

Related Story

'Friends': Inside Netflix and WarnerMedia's New $80M Streaming Deal