Fox Television Stations Announces Newly Restructured Advertising Sales Division

Patrick Paolini (Courtesy FTS)

Fox Television Stations (FTS) is restructuring its Advertising Sales division, merging its local, national and digital sales efforts into one streamlined unit, the company said in a press release. The approach is, the release said, “designed to leverage the power of Fox’s strong news content, live sports and digital/streaming platforms.”

FTS Chief Executive Officer Jack Abernethy has named Patrick Paolini the new EVP of ad sales. He will assume this position immediately, reporting directly to Abernethy.

Abernethy said in the release, “Patrick’s unique ability to execute, developed from years in both news and sales, makes him ideally suited to lead the FTS sales organization. I am confident that this newly elevated dynamic team will move quickly and decisively given their depth of knowledge and proven track record, including the successful creation of FLX, our CTV/OTT ad platform.”

Most recently, Paolini served as SVP and GM of WTTG and WDCA, the FOX-owned duopoly in Washington, D.C. During his 10-year tenure, Paolini led the duopoly to #1 in the market with several innovative news expansions, FTS said. Prior to that, Paolini was SVP of Fox Stations sales; earlier, he was VP and GM for WTXF in Philadelphia. Among other positions throughout his career, he was also VP and director of sales at WNYW and WWOR, the Fox owned-and-operated duopoly in New York and VP and general sales manager for WTTG. A graduate of Western Connecticut State University, Paolini holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing.

Sheila Bruce (Courtesy FTS)

Three ad sales executives, Sheila Bruce, Tom Fleming and Michael Page, have also been elevated to new roles: SVP of Fox ad sales for FTS, in which they will share the responsibility for overseeing the FTS O&Os overall sales efforts. (Fleming will now also be responsible for overseeing local and national station sales.)

Bruce joined WJBK, in Detroit, in 1994 and spent two years as an account executive before she was elevated to local sales manager. Since 2001, Bruce has served as VP and general sales manager for the station. Throughout her tenure, she has led the most senior sales team in the history of Detroit to grow the most successful FLX sales on both linear and digital, across the entire FTS group, the company said, adding that for the last three years in a row the station has doubled its FLX revenue from the year prior.

Tom Fleming (Courtesy FTS)

Fleming has been part of the Fox Stations Sales (FSS) team since its inception and, in 2019, was named SVP of FSS. Since assuming that position, Fleming successfully launched FLX with Page, and led FSS to record presidential political revenue performance in 2020 and record midterm political revenue performance in 2022, as well as record Super Bowl revenue in 2020 and 2023, the company said. Before this role, he spent 15 years as the VP and director of sales for FSS. Prior to that, he held the position of VP and general sales manager at FSS and, before that, sales manager. Previously, Fleming was the VP in charge of managing the sales team for FTS. Earlier in his career, he served as an account executive and team sales manager for Petry Television.

Michael Page (Courtesy FTS)

Page joined FTS as VP of digital sales in 2019 and was promoted to SVP in 2021. During his tenure, Page successfully launched FLX alongside Fleming, and increased digital/streaming revenue by nearly eight times over the past four years, the company said. Prior to joining FTS, Page served as VP of digital sales for Tribune Media, increasing the group’s revenue by 45%, according to the press release.  Previously, he led Tegna Digital in the $2.5 billion acquisition of Cars.com as VP of digital automotive. Prior to that, Page was the head of product marketing for Amazon Media Group. For over a decade, he held various sales roles at Cars.com, including VP of advertiser solutions and VP of advertiser pricing and analytics.

Bruce, Fleming and Page will begin their new duties immediately and will report to Paolini.

Paolini stated, “I am excited to have Sheila, Tom and Michael join me as we transform FTS’s ad sales strategy during this pivotal time of growth. Each of them is a talented executive who challenges the status-quo and will continue to create and redefine solutions in this ever-evolving new advertising landscape. I can’t wait to get started.”