21st Century Fox

The drop is blamed on lower ratings and higher expenses at the Fox Broadcast Network that weren’t offset by higher retrans money.

Former BSkyB content executive Sophie Turner Laing will be CEO of the new group that brings together Endemol, Shine Group and Core Media.

Nicole A. Bernard today was promoted to executive vice president, audience strategy, for The Fox Group. Fox Audience Strategy is a department within 21st Century Fox designed to identify programming […]

Fox Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said on a conference call with analysts that “we have no plans to pursue any other third-party content company as an alternative to Time Warner.” Upon being questioned whether all small acquisitions were out of the question, CEO Rupert Murdoch, responded: “If there was something very unique but small, I don’t know, I wouldn’t say never. But we have no plans to go out on the acquisition trail.”

The about-face announced Tuesday comes three weeks after Time Warner Inc. revealed that it had rejected 21st Century Fox’s unsolicited $76 billion buyout offer.

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox is expected to make an aggressive case for merging with Time Warner Inc. during its quarterly earnings call on Wednesday, though people familiar with the company’s planssay it will not use that forum to raise its bid.

21st Century Fox is willing to give Time Warner shareholders representation on its board as part of a bid for the media giant. However, participation in the leadership of the tightly controlled conglomerate may not be enough to make much difference, according to an individual close to Time Warner.

The $9.1 billion sale of 21st Century Fox’s Italian and German units could have a wider impact on the media industry, giving Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox a cash influx to potentially revive its attempt to buy Time Warner.

If Fox reaches a deal to sell its German and Italian pay-TV outlets, the company may use the proceeds to boost its bid to buy Time Warner. The European assets could fetch $13.5 billion, giving Rupert Murdoch more cash to up his $75 billion offer.

If Fox is successful in buying Time Warner, Rupert Murdoch will likely sell CNN, which CBS is eyeing. Industry watchers, however, say analysts are undervaluing the news network, which is very profitable despite ratings woes.

Although Time Warner is known for its cable networks and its Warner Bros. movie and television units, it also owns one broadcast station — WPCH-TV Atlanta. Should 21st Century Fox succeed in its effort to acquire Time Warner, the FCC would presumably have to sign off on the license transfer of the station even if 21st Century Fox ultimately decided to sell it.

Four of 10 dollars spent by U.S. pay-television operators on carriage fees would go to 21st Century Fox if its takeover bid for Time Warner Inc. succeeds.

The $76 billion cash-and-stock bid by Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. was partly meant to counter consolidation among TV distributors like Comcast-Time Warner Cable and AT&T-DirecTV. The more must-have channels like HBO and Fox News Channel are assembled under one company, the stronger that company’s bargaining position in demanding licensing fees from the TV distributors, no matter how big they get. If talks resume and a takeover succeeds, here are some possibilities.

Media is going through a seismic change, as more and more people watch entertainment online, via Netflix, Hulu and services such as HBO Go, which Time Warner owns. Both distributors and producers of content have been struggling to adjust as the lines between TV and digital viewing blur. One way to do that is to get bigger.

21st Century Fox, the media empire run by Rupert Murdoch, made an $80 billion takeover bid in recent weeks for Time Warner but was rebuffed, say people briefed on the matter.

Gary Newman and Dana Walden, the long-serving CEOs of production powerhouse 20th Century Fox TV, will take on oversight of Fox Broadcasting in a restructuring that elevates the duo to the post of chairman-CEOs of Fox Television Group. Walden and Newman, who have jointly run the TV studio since late 1999, will continue to steer the 20th Century Fox TV group, which production subsidiaries including Fox TV Studios and Fox 21, in addition to now overseeing all aspects of the Fox broadcast network.

With media moguls gathering this week at Allen & Co.’s annual media conference in Idaho’s Sun Valley, all eyes will be on 21st Century Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch, who reportedly is looking to purchase a big content company. One of the companies at the center of this speculation? Time Warner.

Here’s the agreement that the 21st Century Fox COO said last month that he had tentatively reached with CEO Rupert Murdoch. The terms, formalized Monday, will keep Chase Carey at the company through June 30, 2016 — although he can terminate on Dec. 31, 2015, if he gives the company six months notice.

Rupert Murdoch’s 21^st Century Fox and the private equity firm Apollo Global Management have entered into a preliminary agreement to create a joint venture consisting of several leading television production companies, people familiar with the matter said. Under the proposed terms, the joint venture would manage 21^st Century Fox’s Shine Group as well as the Apollo-controlled Endemol and Core Media Group, which are run as separate companies. The combination would create a global television production juggernaut with shows ranging from American Idol to The Biggest Loser.

LONDON — BSkyB, the London-headquartered satellite broadcaster, confirmed Monday that it is in early talks with 21st Century Fox to buy its pay television assets in Italy and Germany. A […]

Super Bowl and retrans money drives the company’s fiscal 3Q television segment revenue to $1.6 billion.

Watchers of Rupert Murdoch’s empire are busy scrutinizing the new roles of his children Lachlan and James in an attempt to determine which may be the front runner to eventually succeed the media mogul. But as far as the day-to-day operations of 21st Century Fox go, Chase Carey is still steering the ship. Described by Rupert Murdoch as his “partner and trusted advisor,” Carey, 60, is in the process of negotiating a new contract with the company.

Rupert Murdoch has elevated son Lachlan to the top of his multi-billion dollar family media empire after a seven-year break, appointing him non-executive co-chairman of both News Corp. and 21st Century Fox Inc. The media mogul also gave his younger son James a bigger role as co-COO at 21st Century Fox, two years after he resigned as chairman of British broadcaster BSkyB following a parliamentary investigation into phone hacking.

The gain was helped by higher retransmission consent money, advertising in sports programming despite fewer political dollars and lower broadcast network ratings.

James Murdoch, 21st Century Fox Inc.’s deputy chief operating officer, has sold about 18.5% of his stake in the media company in a transaction valued at $15 million. Murdoch, son of 21st Century Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch, disclosed he sold 455,000 Class A shares at an average price of $32.97. James Murdoch still owns nearly two million Class A shares of 21st Century Fox.

When it comes to retransmission negotiations — like those going on now between Disney and Dish Network as well as the battle that caused CBS to temporarily go dark on Time Warner Cable this year — it’s not all about the money, 21st Century Fox COO Chase Carey said Thursday. To pretend otherwise is “not constructive,” he said. “It’s really not first and foremost about price.”

Revenue rose 18% to $7.06 billion, helped by better-than-expected growth from its TV businesses at home and abroad. Wall Street expected $6.82 billion. The company said investments in new channels, including the launch of Fox Sports 1 and FXX in the U.S., hurt its profit in its fiscal first quarter.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch was re-elected chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc despite protests from shareholder groups who sought to separate the chairman and chief executive positions of the family-dominated company.

Some investors are making another attempt to split Rupert Murdoch’s chairman and CEO jobs at 21st Century Fox.

21st Century Fox Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch’s overall compensation declined slightly in fiscal 2013, to $28.9 million. During the previous year, Murdoch had a $30-million compensation package. That was nearly 10% lower than his fiscal 2011 earnings of $33.3 million.

The U.S. media conglomerates are shrinking — but smaller is sometimes better. That certainly seems to be the case for 21st Century Fox Inc., which completed its separation from the new News Corp. on June 28, just before the end of the June quarter. Other companies shedding noncore assets include Time Warner Inc. and Walt Disney Co.

The dramatic increase in the value of 21st Century Fox stock has paid big dividends for Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Chase Carey. Last week, the senior officers of 21st Century Fox were paid cash for shares they had accumulated over three years as part of their long-term performance-based compensation, according to a filing this week with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

The two stations in Charlotte, N.C. that Fox Television Stations Group gobbled up in January may have only been the appetizer. The station arm of 21st Century Fox is sniffing around acquisition targets in several major markets, including Seattle, St. Louis and San Francisco. The push is part of a larger strategy to add to its station holdings in NFL markets, particularly markets with NFC teams, the conference for which Fox has a TV rights package. Fox at present has O&Os in 11 of the 16 NFC markets.

Rupert Murdoch may know who will succeed him at News Corp. and 21st Century Fox, but he’s not sharing. “We have them,” Murdoch said in response to questions about succession plans, adding that it was a matter for the board of directors. “But they’re not public. The board knows them.”

Revenue from the stations was flat at $1.1 billion, as higher retrans fees were offset by smaller audiences for American Idol and X-Factor. Excluding the spun-off divisions and one-time items, 21st Century Fox posted a profit of 31 cents per share. Revenue rose 16% to $7.21 billion.

Twentieth Television will now be under production studio 20th Century Fox Television, where president Greg Meidel will now report to Gary Newman and Dana Walden.

On the first day of trading as separate companies, Rupert Murdoch’s television and movie empire, 21st Century Fox, gained nearly 2% while the publishing company ended the day down 5%. Still, the publishing entity, which took the name News Corp., largely held its own with investors.

To herald its split into two companies, News Corp and 21st Century Fox have taken out two-page ads in publications including The New York Times, Washington Post and the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal trumpeting “Day 1.”