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The CW network is hoping to net a successor to outgoing entertainment president Dawn Ostroff, and is interviewing a string of candidates for the job, The Post has learned.
Ostroff, one of the longest-serving broadcast entertainment chiefs in the business, is set to leave at the end of June. She joined in January 2006, when CBS-owned UPN merged with Time Warner’s The WB to create The CW.
Executives would not reveal who’s under consideration, but sources said at least 10 candidates are being interviewed to run the youth-centric network, whose shows include “Gossip Girl” and “The Vampire Diaries.”
The executive who takes the reins will be competing not only with other broadcast networks for younger viewers, but also with a resurgent MTV, which is riding high on the back of ratings champ “Jersey Shore.”
One source said CBS boss Les Moonves and Warner Bros. CEO Barry Meyer have been in discussions about the future of the network, including whether the venture continues to make sense for both parties. CW is seen as a valuable outlet for Warner’s programming.
CBS insiders, however, insisted both partners are committed to the joint venture.
Ostroff will still be in charge of picking shows for next season and is expected to lead the network’s upfront presentation to advertisers in May.
Before running UPN, she was entertainment boss at Lifetime.
She is the third network entertainment boss to exit in the past 12 months. The new CW chief will join other relatively new broadcast chiefs, including Bob Greenblatt at NBC and Paul Lee at ABC, who both were named to their posts recently.
Ostroff will be leaving Los Angeles to live full time in New York with her husband, Mark, an executive with Lazard Wealth Management.