Monday (May 23) was the official exit day for 21st Century Fox Inc. employees in Fox's film and TV organizations who accepted what was termed a generous incentive package to voluntary leave the company. The buyout offer, to employees with 15 years or more at the company, was made on Feb. 1 and was part of a targeted $250 million in cost savings. Fox had 20,500 employees as of the end of fiscal 2015, according to Bloomberg, and those eligible for the buyout were in the hundreds.

Because the buyout was aimed at longer-serving employees, the TV staffers who accepted it include at least several who have for years had contacts with their peers in industry associations and with the press, including editors at Multichannel News. Their ranks include a trio of communications executives at Fox Sports -- senior vice president Lou D'Ermilio, vice president Dan Bell and director Ileana Pena -- who, as Sports Business Journalnoted on May 16, had a combined 61 years' experience, dating back (in D'Ermilio's case) to the sports unit's first year in 1994. In the regional ranks, Ramon Alvarez, media relations director at Fox Sports Southwest since 1990 (and before that at Home Team Sports, which Fox acquired), also is on his last day today. 

Fox Networks Group vice president Sol Doten, who also is voluntarily leaving as of today, has been with Fox since 1994, with stints at international and in distribution in addition to the networks group. Current distribution executives also are known to have accepted the package. Multichannel News has contacted some of them but have not received confirmation from them yet.

NEW UPDATE: Three other Los Angeles-based executives who were in at the creation of Fox Sports in 1994 and who left via the buyout are: George Greenberg, EVP of content integration and presentation at Fox Sports and former EVP and general manager of Fuel TV (which begat Fox Sports 2); Jack Simmons, SVP of production at Fox Sports, and Laura Marcus, VP of talent relations at Fox Sports, who booked and cast the myriad celebrities that appeared on Fox Sports Sunday -- Robert DeNiro, Bill Murray and Bradley Cooper among them. Also add Kim Kurland, executive director of publicit, at Fox Broadcasting, to the list of 15+-year staffers to leave under the incentive plan. 

Two people familiar with the moves said that Chris Killebrew, regional senior vice president in the Fox Networks distribution team, based in Atlanta, and Rob Evanko, a VP in the Fox Networks distribution operations, in Los Angeles, had sought and taken buyouts. Neither could be reached for comment, but Evanko's LinkedIn page lists his tenure at Fox as July 2000 to May 2016. Similarly, a person familiar with him said Steven Hunt, VP of distribution, sales and marketing for Fox in Dallas, had left with a buyout. His LinkedIn page lists his Fox tenure as dating back to 1993 but ending in May 2016. Attempts to reach Hunt and Killebrew did not immediately result in a reply. 

MCN will continue to update this list: please send tips to kgibbons@nbmedia.com.

21st Century Fox is seeking to cut $250 million in expenses this year and is looking to employees for voluntary buyouts and greater cost efficiencies.

In a memo to employees Monday, Fox Networks Group CEO Peter Rice said the company needs to "adjust, adapt, and organize for the future," adding that the company will be "undertaking some structural changes, increasing investment in some parts of the company while making cost reductions in other areas."

In the past 18 months Fox has reorganized Fox Sports; expanded FX Networks and combined its ad sales teams;  created National Geographic Partners; and, most recently, restructuring its international channels.

"As the next step in this reorganization, colleagues who fit a specific set of criteria will be offered a generous benefit package if they decide to voluntarily resign from the company, effective May 23, 2016," Rice wrote in the memo. "Colleagues who are eligible for this offer will receive a confidential email in the next few hours with specific terms and benefits. Again, the program is completely voluntary."

Just how many employees will be affected remains to be seen but reports suggest that the reductions are not expected to be heavy. Other programmers have weathered staff reductions to cut costs in the wake of ad revenue declines and ratings pressures, including Viacom and Time Warner's Turner Networks.

Michael Wright is departing his post as president and head of programming at TNT, TBS and Turner Broadcasting. The move comes as Turner initiates voluntary buyout offers to more than 500 staffers as part of a company-wide cost-cutting plan.

A 12-year veteran of Turner, Wright originally took over programming for TNT in 2004 and by 2007 oversaw programming for all three networks. Just two days ago, TNT declared victory in the summer ratings race, finishing as the the No. 1 cable network in primetime with its original series averaging 5.6 million primetime viewers in Nielsen live-plus-seven ratings. Original dramas Rizzoli & Isles (7.6 million), Major Crimes (7.1 million) and The Last Ship (6.4 million) finished as the three most watched original cable dramas of the summer in live-plus-seven total viewers.

Wright is expected to stay on as a search for his replacement takes place. Among the available executives that could be considered for the role is Kevin Reilly, who stepped down in May from his post as entertainment chairman of Fox Broadcasting.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.