Linley is currently editorial director of Heat magazine and heatworld.com, two of the titles acquired by H Bauer when it bought Emap's consumer division in 2007 for £1.14bn.
His new role is creative director for lifestyle and entertainment. Linley will take charge of Bauer Media's growing lifestyle and entertainment brands on broadcast platforms.
With pressure on advertising budgets and magazine circulations largely on the slide, publishers are looking for ways to extend their popular brands into more profitable endeavours.
Bauer's appointment of Linley follows the success of efforts such as 'The Empire Awards' for ITV2, an Empire documentary about film director Steven Spielberg on Five and a series based around FHM for Sky1.
Bauer indicated that rather than launching more properties related to magazine brands, such as Q and Kerrang! radio stations, Linley would focus more on developing branded television programmes for bigger broadcasters.
It said that two unnamed projects were in development. 'Project Tower' is being developed with 'Big Brother' producer Endemol, and is close to being bought by a major broadcaster.
The other, 'Project Jackpot', is anchored around an unnamed Bauer brand, for which a pilot programme is currently in production with Prospect Pictures.
Bauer is also having development discussions with talkbackTHAMES, maker of 'The X Factor'.
David Davies, managing director of Bauer Media's women's lifestyle and entertainment brands, said: "We have reached the point where there is clearly an opportunity for us to extend our brands on to television through co-production deals with some of the very best production companies.
"To see these through to broadcast it is clear that we now need to dedicate top quality creative resource. Julian was the obvious choice."
Linley joined Heat magazine in 2000 as deputy editor, when the title was relaunched as a gossipy entertainment title.
He worked there for five years before becoming launch editor of First magazine, returning to the Heat brand in 2007 as digital editor of heatworld.com. Linley took over in 2008 from Mark Frith.
Bauer said that deputy editor Jeremy Mark will edit the magazine and oversee heatworld.com until a new editor is appointed.
Bauer Media brands include Grazia, Closer, FHM, Q and Empire as well as a host of niche titles in areas as diverse as fishing, pets, cycling and railways.
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