Exclusive | Ex-60 Minutes boss Bill Owens wants to launch rival news show with Scott Pelley, other fired staffers: sources

A former boss of “60 Minutes” wants to launch a rival news series with Scott Pelley and other correspondents and producers who have recently exited the iconic show — but insiders are skeptical about whether it can get off the ground, The Post has learned. Bill Owens – who resigned last year as “60 Minutes” executive producer amid a dustup between CBS and President Trump over how a Kamala Harris interview was edited – is looking to raise around $50 million to fund two years’ worth of in-depth and investigative news segments, sources with knowledge said.The lump sum Owens is seeking would bankroll everything from staffing and production to marketing and legal, sources added.Still, for the idea to work, former “60 Minutes” journalists would likely be forced to take a drastic pay cut.“I think they’re asking for too much money,” a source familar with the plan said.

“They’re looking at the old ’60 Minutes’ model and they’re all used to mega salaries.”A source close to Owens denied the plans.Still, some insiders speculated that a “60 Minutes”-style venture could potentially capitalize on recent upheaval at the 57-year-old show after Weiss cleaned house in recent months.A second source said Owens is angling to enlist the bombastic Pelley, who was fired in June after he tore into CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, claiming she was “murdering ‘60 Minutes” during a staff meeting.Indeed, there has been chatter that Pelley’s scorched-earth exit – in which he also slammed the show’s new executive producer Bilton, telling him he’d “never be welcomed” – was partly a ploy to gin up buzz ahead of an upcoming venture.Owens could also tap other fired “60 Minutes” staffers including ex-correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, former executive producer Tanya Simon and senior producers Guy Campanile and Draggan Mihailovich and Matthew Polevoy, a source with knowledge said.Owens declined to comment.Other former �...