Former ’60 Minutes’ Boss Bill Owens Plots Rival News Show With Scott Pelley, Ex-CBS Staff

Months after a high-profile departure from 60 Minutes, one former executive is already setting his sights on a bold new venture.

Bill Owens, who resigned as executive producer of 60 Minutes last year amid CBS’s legal battle with President Donald Trump over the editing of a Kamala Harris interview, is trying to launch a rival newsmagazine stacked with correspondents and producers recently pushed out of the CBS show, according to a report in the New York Post, published on Sunday, August 2. Insiders, however, are skeptical it will ever get off the ground.

Owens is said to be courting Scott Pelley, who was fired from the news show in June after accusing CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, of “murdering 60 Minutes” during a heated staff meeting, per the report. Other potential recruits include former correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, ex-executive producer Tanya Simon, and senior producers Guy Campanile, Draggan Mihailovich and Matthew Polevoy.

According to sources, Owens is seeking roughly $50 million to fund two years of investigative segments, covering everything including staffing, production, marketing and legal costs, the outlet reported. The catch: journalists used to 60 Minutes-sized paychecks may need to take a real pay cut.

“I think they’re asking for too much money,” a source familiar with the plan said, per the Post. “They’re looking at the old 60 Minutes model and they’re all used to mega salaries.”

According to the report, Netflix has emerged as one of the leading possibilities for the project, though landing a deal may not be easy. One former streaming executive doesn’t see strong demand for a traditional news program on the platform but left the door open for a different approach.

“There’s no clamoring on the Netflix side for overall news,” the former executive said. “But for a tightly done show that isn’t too expensive, maybe it could work.”