Fox

Even now, in his emeritus status, he will continue to offer counsel to his successor, son Lachlan Murdoch. And the elder Mr. Murdoch indicated in a statement to employees that he intended to be active in providing that counsel. But the announcement was nonetheless potentially epochal, marking at least the formal end to an active career during which the senior Murdoch built the most important and politically influential media empire on the planet. His companies, infused with a brand of right-wing populism, have amassed the power to shape, and at times make or break, presidents and prime ministers.

In a significant shakeup of pro wrestling programming, WWE SmackDown will leave Fox and jump to USA Network, beginning in October 2024. In addition, the WWE will produce four primetime specials per year, which will air in primetime on the NBC broadcast network.

Technology leaders from Fox Corp., Sinclair, Ross Video and Evertz will discuss how technology, IT and security leaders at media companies and broadcast technology companies are working together to secure the supply chain in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s Cybersecurity for Broadcasters Retreat, set for Oct. 26 at NAB Show New York. Register here.

Fox scored a record audience with its broadcast of Colorado’s win against TCU on Saturday. The football game, which was watched by nearly 7.3M people, was the most-watched telecast of the day on any network. It also set the record for Fox’s most-watched Week 1 Big Noon Saturday matchup ever — up 17% over the program’s 2022 average (an audience of about 6.2M). On Fox Sports’ digital platforms, the game also managed to become the fourth most-streamed college football game in the network’s history.

ESPN scores second place primetime finish.

Nexstar and Fox today announced that they have reached a comprehensive multi-year agreement renewing the Fox affiliations of 29 Nexstar-owned stations across the United States, including those in six of […]

Harold Feld: “While getting the FCC to hold a hearing — let alone deny Fox29’s application for renewal — is certainly a long shot given how the FCC works, this is not a frivolous claim. To the contrary, it raises some very interesting questions from an FCC law perspective. So it is worth actually walking through the process here and what questions the FCC would need to resolve either to dismiss the petition to deny or to designate for a hearing. Because ultimately, unless the FCC finds a procedural deficiency, the FCC is going to have to actually write up a real and binding decision with real consequences and real precedential value.

The challenge to Fox’s WTXF Philadelphia license is drawing a crowd, including founding president of Fox Broadcasting Jamie Kellner. Already this week Alfred Sikes, the Republican FCC chairman whose commission helped pave the way for the creation of a fourth network, registered his support for holding a hearing on Fox’s qualifications to be an FCC licensee. Now Kellner, along with former Democratic FCC Commissioner Ervin Duggan and ex-Fox News Channel commentator Bill Kristol, former editor of The Weekly Standard, have joined the chorus of Fox critics.

Gordon Ramsay’s MasterChef has been renewed for a 14th season at Fox ahead of airing its milestone 250th episode Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Fox is invoking the First Amendment in its opposition to a challenge to its character qualifications to hold an FCC broadcast license. The Media and Democracy Project (MAD), citing Fox’s settlement of the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit over election misinformation, last month challenged the renewal of Fox’s WTFX Philadelphia, and by extension Fox’s character qualifications for holding any TV station licenses at all. According to a copy of its opposition to that challenge, filed with the FCC Wednesday (Aug. 2), Fox says MAD has failed to make a case that Fox’s license renewal should be denied and is treading dangerous ground.

The game on Monday in Auckland, New Zealand, which kicked off at 3 a.m. ET, averaged 1,354,000 viewers. Fox and Nielsen said the audience peaked at 1.73 million for the final 15 minutes. Fox said the match was the most-watched overnight program in its history.

The game on Thursday afternoon in Wellington, New Zealand, which kicked off at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night, averaged 6,429,000 viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched group stage telecast since Fox started covering it in 2015. Fox and Nielsen said the audience peaked at 8.45 million for the final 15 minutes.

CBS and Fox weighed in on their upfronts today, following NBC last week. CBS has closed its 2024 selling season up “low-to-mid single digits” in dollar commitments. Fox Corp. showed gains in news and is looking at a fall slate of sports, animated and unsripted content. Both companies, along with the rest of the television industry, have been in unusually protracted negotiations amid unprecedented Hollywood labor action and a problematic ad market.

Several of the country’s biggest entertainment and streaming companies are teaming up to fight hundreds of local broadcasters over a years-old provision that would determine whether they are forced to negotiate directly with those local stations for distribution deals.  The Preserve Viewer Choice Coalition, which launched Wednesday, is made up of major entertainment companies and their broadcast networks, including Disney/ABC, Paramount/CBS, Fox Corp./Fox, NBCUniversal/NBC/Telemundo, Warner Bros. Discovery, Univision and Roku.

The United States’ 3-0 victory over Vietnam in the Women’s World Cup drew 6.26 million viewers, making it the most-watched soccer telecast in the U.S. since last year’s men’s World Cup final. It is also the largest combined English- and Spanish-language audience for a U.S. women’s group stage match.

Other than its Sunday animation block, the network will rely on reality shows to start the 2023-24 season.t

The series will debut with a special two-episode preview on Sunday, Sept. 24, immediately following the NFL doubleheader that night.

If the long-established law behind the FCC character clause has any validity, it must be enforced against Fox Broadcasting where internal documents from the cable news side of the corporation shows that profit comes before truth or the national interest. Based solely on the facts and the law, Fox does not deserve a license to own a broadcast station.

A petition from the Media and Democracy Project (MAD) and former Fox executive Preston Padden asking the FCC to hold a hearing over and block a Fox-owned TV station’s license renewal isn’t likely to lead to agency action and would raise First Amendment concerns if it did, according to communications attorneys.

The first half of 2023 has been a colossal disappointment for media executives who wanted this year to be a rebound from a terrible 2022, when a slowdown in streaming subscribers cut valuations for Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global roughly in half. Instead, investors have once again become excited by Netflix’s future prospects as it’s cracked down on password sharing, potentially leading to tens of millions of new signups. Netflix shares have surged the past five months, outpacing the S&P 500. Meanwhile, the legacy players can’t get out of their own way.

Less than three months ahead of the planned Sept. 18 ceremony and live telecast, sources say that organizers are actively discussing multiple contingency plans — including delaying the event altogether — if the town’s labor strife hasn’t been resolved later this summer.

CBS, Cox and Fox have agreed to pay a total of $48 million to end claims in Illinois federal court that they participated in a scheme among major U.S. broadcasters to artificially inflate television advertising prices.

The Super Bowl helps Fox to a victory among adults 18-49, while CBS runs its total-viewer winning streak to 15 seasons.

During Wednesday’s MoffettNathanson Inaugural Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, the CEO also said sports will stay on Fox linear: ““Fox has a unique strategy, in that we are keeping our premium sports on our broadcast network. And we think that’s very important because it means that the traditional pay TV ecosystem is still what serves consumers best, serves the leagues best, with the most reach, and serves advertising clients. So we’re going to continue to do that.”

Fox made its annual upfront pitch to advertisers at the Manhattan Center on Monday afternoon, pushing the messages of Fox Entertainment, Tubi, Fox News and Fox Sports, all while promising the audience that don’t worry, we’ll get you hammered soon. Coming off of presentations hampered by the pandemic in recent years, Fox was back in nearly full force, with the writers’ strike limiting the number of network stars in attendance. The event also featured some football antics courtesy of Rob Gronkowski and some well-placed cursing by Gordon Ramsay.

The network has renewed the cooking competition show from Gordon Ramsay for two more seasons, which will take Next Level Chef through Season 4. The renewal came just ahead of the show’s season finale Thursday night.

Broadcasters — including their primary lobby group in Washington and affiliate associations — have told the FCC that if it does not extend its waiver of the requirement to provide oral descriptions of weather radar and other visual emergency information, they may have to cut back on those graphics for everyone.

The network has renewed its comedy series Animal Control, about a group of municipal animal control officers who work better with the creatures they handle than other humans. The show, starring Joel McHale, is Fox’s first wholly owned live-action comedy.

Effective June 2023, Gearhart (pictured) will oversee all editorial, business, and administrative functions for KTTV, reporting directly to station Senior Vice President and General Manager of KTTV and KCOP Steve Carlston.

Marianne Gambelli, president of ad sales for Fox Corp., says in an interview that she believes the company will stand apart in the TV industry’s looming “upfront” sales session by not pressing potential sponsors to snap up commercial inventory in multiple venues.

No more tropical island escapes for Fox: the network is not renewing Fantasy Island for a third season. Fox greenlit the contemporary version of the classic drama series in 2021. The series, which takes place at a luxury resort, starred Roselyn Sanchez stars as Elena Roarke, a descendant of the original series’ enigmatic Mr. Roarke. The series was done under a low-cost business model, so its threshold for success was lower. But Fox still decided to have the sun set on its summer series.