TV executive who pulled plug on WCW, Jamie Kellner, passes away
While VICE is running a four-part series on Who killed WCW, the man who truly pulled the plug and effectively put the promotion to bed, Jamie Kellner, passed away at age 77 according to Variety.
Kellner, who replaced Ted Turner at the helm of Turner Broadcasting, was the person who made the decision to cancel WCW programming from TNT and TBS, and in process, ending Fusient Media’s hopes of buying WCW from AOL Time Warner. WWE then came in and picked up the deal for a reported $4 million at the time. The Fusient’s deal was only going to work if they still had a time slot on TNT and TBS and would fall without one.
Kellner is best known as the only executive to create two broadcast networks who were profitable under his watch – FOX and The WB.
Colin Vassallo been editor of Wrestling-Online since 1996
Also, killed Pinky and The Brain, Batman:The Animated Series, Animaniacs and Freakazoid. He was also a fan of the Elmira character from Animaniacs and wanted Elmira in every episode of Pinky and The Brain.
Kelner did an interview for the Guy Evans book, Nitro, and explained that the reason he cancelled Nitro and Thunder was because Fusient Media snuck a clause in the contract pre-merger that gave Fusient ownership of those time slots even if Fusient shut down WCW, meaning that they could program whatever they wanted in those slots.