After college he participated in the
CBS Executive Training Program; after CBS disposed of its syndication division, he rose to the rank of vice president for first-run programming, development, and sales at
Viacom. In 1978, he accepted a job as executive of
Filmways, a film and television producer and distributor. In 1982, after Filmways was taken over by
Orion Pictures, he served as president of its Orion Entertainment Group, where he oversaw and supervised their programming and syndication activities, including the launch of
Cagney and Lacey. At
Fox, Kellner was charged with building the affiliate network, selling programming to advertisers, and the establishment of relations with program producers. Kellner was present at the establishment of the
Fox Broadcasting Company and held the position as chairman of
20th Century Fox Television from 1986 to 1993. Among the shows that emerged during Kellner's seven years at Fox were
The Simpsons,
Married... with Children,
Beverly Hills, 90210,
Melrose Place and
In Living Color. Those shows held the fledgling "web" together until Fox shocked the television world by winning partial rights to the
National Football League (NFL) in
1994 from
CBS; that, as well as channel upgrades in many markets due to Fox's alliance and merger with
New World Communications, made Fox a legitimate fourth network. He was ultimately the one who made the decision to cancel
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) programming on Turner's networks in 2001. The once-powerful WCW was the largest wrestling promotion in the world popularity-wise in the mid-1990s, beating its rival, the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE) head-to-head on
Monday nights for 83 consecutive weeks from 1996 to 1998. By 2001, it was declining, and lost roughly $60 million in 2000. With WCW no longer being profitable, and
AOL Time Warner (WCW's parent company) wanting nothing to do with WCW further (desiring to move in a different direction), Kellner canceled all WCW programming on
TBS and
TNT. This left WCW without a television contract, and hastened the eventual sale of its assets to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment. In the book
The Death of WCW by
Bryan Alvarez and RD Reynolds, Kellner was listed as the official "killer" of WCW, insofar as he made the official call to remove it from the Turner networks. In the book ''NITRO: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner's WCW'' by Guy Evans, it is said that a key condition in WCW's purchase deal with Fusient Media Ventures was that Fusient wanted control over time slots on TNT and TBS, regardless of whether these slots would show WCW programming or not. This influenced Kellner's decision to ultimately cancel WCW programming. WCW's losses were then written-off via purchase accounting; according to Evans: "in the post-merger environment, the new conglomerate was able to 'write down' money losing operations, essentially eliminating those losses because of their irrelevancy moving forward." ==Personal life==