NEW YORK -- CBS Broadcast Group President Howard Stringer may leave the network to head a new interactive-entertainment venture being formed by three regional telephone companies, according to sources.
Mr. Stringer, 52, is the leading contender to head the new company.
Sources said Friday that once details of the offer are hammered out, he may go to CBS Inc. Chairman Laurence Tisch to ask to be let out of his contract, which has two more years to run.
The trade paper Variety reported Friday that Mr. Tisch already has agreed to let Mr. Stringer go. But sources said the two executives have not yet held such a discussion, because the offer to Mr. Stringer from the Baby Bells has not been firmly negotiated.
Both CBS executives declined comment on Friday.
Pacific Telesis Group, Bell Atlantic Corp. and Nynex Corp. plan to invest $100 million each to form a company that would generate interactive programming and a separate firm that would develop technology. Michael S. Ovitz, chairman of Creative Artists Agency, is a consultant to the Baby Bells.
Mr. Stringer has told several associates that he is excited by the possibilities of the new venture, though some sources said they thought he felt some ambivalence about leaving CBS, where he has worked for his entire career in broadcasting.