Fox Television Stations

Earl Arbuckle, the 27-station group’s senior vice president of engineering, died Monday of a heart attack.

Shawn O’Shea will oversee the owned-station group’s new centralized master control hub in Las Vegas.

Pilat Media said that last month Fox Television Stations told Pilat it was dropping Pilat Media’s IBMS content management system and was suing for damages for what FTS said were breaches of contract by Pilat. On Tuesday, in response, Pilat brought a removal action and counterclaim for breach of contract against FTS in the U.S. Federal Court in New York seeking an injunction and damages to be determined by that court.

Schwaid joins the Fox Philadelphia O&O from Meredith Local Media, where he was VP of digital content. He succeeds Kingsley Smith, who in June became the ND at Fox’s O&O in Los Angeles, KTTV.

The unscripted series hosted by four teams of radio personalities will launch July 25 for six weeks on WWOR New York, KTTV Los Angeles, WTTG Washington, WAGA Atlanta, KSAZ Phoenix, WJBK Detroit and WUTB Baltimore.

The Fox O&O in Atlanta is joining with Publix Super Markets and the American Red Cross to raise money for disaster victims through the station’s ongoing CareForce community service campaign.

The 16 Fox-owned stations that produce news are trying to change the way they do latenight news and “break out of the box.” Among the innovations are debates, interviews and commentary about controversial local issues. Says AR&D’s Jerry Gumbert: “Fox realizes, perhaps better than some broadcasters, that the same old content and same old format and presentation style are barriers to future growth and relevancy with consumers.”

Jose Rios will coordinate all digital news applications for FTS, including mobile applications, as well as working with the stations to develop news talent and identify social media opportunities.

Twentieth Television has signed the network’s O&Os for the hit show when it makes its weekend broadcast syndication debut in fall 2013.