NWSA News Corporation

Two years after Fox Networks Group consolidated its advertising sales efforts under Toby Byrne, the TV veteran is leaving the company, becoming the latest sales executive to depart from a network in recent months.

Fox said it would immediately begin a search for a successor for Mr. Byrne, who has worked at the company for more than 20 years. In the meantime, Randy Freer, president and chief operating officer of Fox Networks Group, will oversee advertising revenue.

"Toby is an extremely talented and admired member of our leadership team and has left an indelible mark over his long career at Fox," Mr. Freer said in a statement.

Mr. Byrne joins a growing list of TV ad sales executives who have headed for the exits. Jeff Lucas left Viacom earlier this summer to run Snapchat's ad business. Discovery's Joe Abruzzese, who had been in the television ad sales business for 46 years, announced in July that he would retire at the end of the year. Last week, AMC announced that Arlene Manos would move to a president emeritus role, while Seth Winter, who led sales for NBC Sports Group, said he would step down from the role.

In a statement, Mr. Byrne said he was leaving the company to "explore other opportunities," adding that the latest "upfront," the annual selling season where networks hawk ad time for their fall programming, was "exceptional."

Mr. Byrne joined Fox in 1996, and took over ad sales responsibilities for Fox and Fox Sports in 2010 before adding more cable properties to his purview two years ago in an expanded role.

Fox Networks Group-parent 21st Century Fox and News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal, share common ownership.

Variety earlier reported Mr. Byrne's exit.

Write to Steven Perlberg at steven.perlberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 12, 2016 14:45 ET (18:45 GMT)

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