COMPANY TOWN : Sony Rehires Its Former TV Chief, Promotes Top Japanese Exec : Mel Harris’ return may call into question the future of the head of Columbia TriStar Television, who sources expect to leave as a result.

Realigning its upper-management ranks, Sony Pictures Entertainment on Thursday lured its former TV chief back to the company as a co-president and also elevated its top Japanese executive to an equivalent position.

The hiring of Mel Harris, who left the company in 1995, as co-president and chief operating officer to oversee television under studio chief John Calley is expected to cause a ripple within Sony’s lucrative TV group. It leaves up in the air the future of Jon Feltheimer, president of Sony’s Columbia TriStar Television Group, who now has to report to Harris.

Sources said the Harris hiring was prompted in part by Sony’s inability to reach a new employment agreement with Feltheimer, widely considered a talented but difficult executive, whose contract is to expire in February. Company insiders said they expect Feltheimer to leave as a result of the Harris hiring.

Feltheimer, through a spokesman, declined to comment.

Sony’s executive ranks have been fluid for years, marked by the coming and going of numerous top executives since the Japanese electronics giant bought the studio in 1989.

The company now has three executives at its second corporate tier under Calley who share the title of co-president and chief operating officer: Harris, longtime Sony executive Masayuki “Yuki” Nozoe and former lawyer Bob Wynne.

Nozoe serves as the studio’s primary link to its Tokyo-based parent, and executives said his promotion reflects his efforts to patch up what had been a tense rift between the two. Wynne handles corporate and financial operations, and until the hiring of Harris, oversaw television as well.

Harris, 57, who left Sony in 1995 amid frustrations with Sony’s direction, is a well-regarded executive. “‘He’s a knowledgeable man in the TV world. He has good instincts for organization. He’s a good person and had a good history in the business,” said former Sony Pictures Chairman Peter Guber.

But others questioned whether the hiring suggests that Sony isn’t doing enough to develop its younger executives into its next generation of leaders.

The hiring of Harris is believed to have been pushed mostly by Howard Stringer, Sony’s top U.S. executive and a former top TV executive himself.

In addition to being prompted by the lack of progress in negotiating with Feltheimer, sources said it also reflects a need to give the television operation to a seasoned executive with more TV experience than Wynne and to free up Wynne--Harris’ next-door neighbor in Malibu--to handle other matters. In addition, Harris is expected to move Sony further into such areas as digital-related TV, where he has an active interest.

Initially, the hiring caused speculation that it could be part of a larger plan of succession for Calley, 69, who has been rumored for some time to be leaving soon.

But Calley adamantly denied that, saying the hiring of Harris was designed to give greater depth to the company’s executive ranks.

“We all know how old I am. Do I think succession will be dealt with at some point? I do think so. But I feel great. I have two years and a few months left on my deal, and I give you my word I have never discussed [a succession plan] with Tokyo,” Calley said.

For his part, Harris said his hiring came together quickly after he was approached by Stringer and Calley.

“I was very impressed with where Howard and John have taken the studio and giving it a new kind of energy,” he said.

Sony shares jumped $5 to $133.19 on the New York Stock Exchange.