MCA Is Close to Naming New Television Chief : COMPANY TOWN

MCA Inc. is expected to name Gregory Meidel, the president of Twentieth Television, to head its television group as early as Monday, according to sources close to the company, ending a nearly two-month search whose duration and close calls have raised eyebrows in Hollywood.

Meidel surfaced as the leading candidate in recent weeks, after one network executive turned down the job and negotiations with an entertainment lawyer crumbled, reportedly after negative industry response.

Neither Meidel nor an MCA spokeswoman would comment. Sources said a contract has yet to be signed between the parties.

Television sources said Meidel’s bosses at Fox Broadcasting Co. are likely to let Meidel out of his contract, which expires in February, because the opportunity at MCA surpasses any job they could offer to get him to stay.

Meidel, 42, oversees non-network production and distribution at Fox. Since Twentieth Television was restructured nearly two years ago, Meidel has overseen not only shows for first-run syndication such as “A Current Affair” and sales of Fox network fare such as “The Simpsons,” but the development and sale of specials, movies and shows for late night and for cable.

At MCA, Meidel would succeed Tom Wertheimer, who resigned as chairman of MCA Television Group in late August, after news leaked that the new president of MCA, Ron Meyer, had been searching for his replacement. Meyer, the co-founder of Creative Artists Agency, took over Aug. 1 after Seagram Co. bought MCA from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.

Meyer has interviewed several candidates for the job, including Brad Grey of Brillstein/Grey; Gary Lieberthal, the former Columbia Pictures television chief; Sandy Grushow, the former Fox executive who is now at Tele-TV, and Peter Tortorici, the former head of CBS Entertainment.

He was close to signing a deal with entertainment attorney Tom Hoberman and is thought to have offered the job only to one candidate, Ted Harbert, the programming chief of ABC, who turned it down after firming up his position at the network in the wake of its purchase by Walt Disney Co.

Meidel, who spent 13 years at Paramount’s television arm, is considered charismatic, likable and a competent salesman and manager.

Sources said Meyer has labored over the choice because the television group needs the biggest make-over. What is more, Meyer is less fluent in the ways of TV than in those of the movie business.