Joe Earley: Fox COO worked his way through the ranks of marketing and publicity after joining Fox as a senior publicist in 1994. Indicative of Earley’s possible successor status is his expanded role in recent months. Comedy and drama development and programming teams were added to his purview in March. But insiders say Earley’s promotion was too recent for him to be considered for top job.
John Landgraf: FX’s no-nonsense president is already in the Fox family, so moving Landgraf over to the big network could be a logical choice, especially since he redefined FX by bringing critically acclaimed series like “Sons of Anarchy,” “Louie” and “American Horror Story” to the network.
Gail Berman:Co-founder of BermanBraun (renamed Whalerock Industries after Berman left earlier this year) already did a spin as President of Entertainment at Fox Broadcasting from 2000-2005. During those years Fox went from worst to first with mega-hits like “American Idol,” “24,” “Prison Break,” and “House.”
David Nevins: Though he just signed a contract extension with CBS for his role as President of Showtime through 2018, Hollywood’s contracts were made to be broken — for the right price. Nevins is still No. 2 at the network under Matthew C. Blank, and the penchant he’s shown for original content at Showtime could blossom at a major broadcast network.
Dana Walden: Beloved co-chairman of 21st Century Fox Television has a solid relationship with many of the content creators whose work appears on Fox network. As a studio head, Walden is intimately familiar with production side of the development process, the demands of in-season production, and perhaps most importantly to the folks upstairs — the bottom line.
Lauren Zalaznick: The longtime NBCU executive was squeezed out late last year after her female-centric networks, including Bravo and Oxygen, were absorbed by peer Bonnie Hammer. Zalaznick recently joined the board of directors of music company Shazam, but the top job at FBC might not require her to leave that position.
David Hill: SVP of 21st Century Fox — and longtime pal of Rupert Murdoch — has overseen just about everything when it comes to Fox’s TV slate. The jack-of-all-trades was brought on to oversee “American Idol” and “X Factor” in 2013 when Fox was absent a reality head. Hill’s career has mostly covered Fox Sports, but he was Chairman and CEO of Fox Broadcasting Company from 1997-1999, so he could theoretically wear that cap again.
