Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Fox Rules: A brash blend of TV news and entertainment is hot with viewers
U.S. News ^ | 05/19/03 | Betsy Streisand

Posted on 05/10/2003 6:47:16 PM PDT by Pokey78

The world won't know until May 21 whether Ruben, Clay, or Kimberley will ascend to celebrity nirvana, courtesy of American Idol. But the biggest winner has already been chosen: Fox Broadcasting. Thanks to Idol, as well as Joe Millionaire, Fox hijacked the February ratings "sweeps" and could run off with the May ones; it came very close to unseating NBC this season as the top destination for the 18-to-49-year-old crowd coveted by advertisers. This week, as the major broadcast networks gather in New York to unveil their lineups and sell commercial time for the fall season, Fox is expected to make the biggest gains, increasing its take by 16 percent over last year to $1.55 billion. That is more than double the growth rate of the overall market, which is expected to rise about 7 percent to $8.6 billion.

Such performance is the kind executives like to take out for a stroll around HQ. But these days it's tough to get a brag in edgewise at the Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's $18 billion media colossus, News Corp. In addition to Fox Broadcasting's prime-time accomplishments, the Fox News Channel trounced CNN to win the 24-hour cable news ratings war during the war in Iraq and is winning the peace as well. At cable networks FX and Fox Sports Net, subscribers and ratings are up strongly. And the movie studio Twentieth Century Fox not only broke the $1 billion mark at the box office last year for the first time but has also started off the summer with a $155 million worldwide opening for X-Men 2. That's the biggest global bow in film history. "It's weird," says News Corp.'s chief operating officer, Peter Chernin. "Everything seems to be clicking all at once."

But get ready for the encore. Murdoch, already the world's most powerful media mogul, is about to acquire DirecTV, the world's second-largest satellite network. The $6.6 billion purchase would give the Aussie multibillionaire the U.S. platform he has been seeking for years to distribute Fox news and entertainment.

In addition, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote next month to relax rules that limit media ownership. That will give Fox, which has been bumping up against the ownership ceiling in several markets where it has newspapers and local TV stations, even more room to grow. "Clearly, the company is firing on all cylinders," says independent media analyst Christopher Dixon, noting that Fox Entertainment's stock was the top media performer in 2002. "But it's still all about what comes next."

Right now, the network's prime-time success hinges almost exclusively on the performance of two shows, Idol and Millionaire. Without them, Fox would be last in the 18-to-49 category. The network, which is still in the red from the soft advertising market of the past two years, "desperately needs to find some successful half-hour comedies and hourlong dramas to cover the holes in its schedule," says Brad Adgate, a vice president at Horizon Media, a large ad-buying firm in New York. "It can't depend on reality TV" (box, Page 38).

That said, Fox, which brought the world When Animals Attack and Caught Red Handed: Cops' 15 Greatest Take Downs, has been masterful in using Idol for cross-promotion and leading viewers to other shows such as 24, The Bernie Mac Show, and That '70s Show, all of whose ratings have increased. Idol so seamlessly blends entertainment and marketing that it's hard to tell where the show stops and the commercials begin. In a recent episode, the Idols stormed the red carpet at the premiere of X-Men 2 (a Fox movie), hit the set of Boston Public (a Fox TV show), and performed their new Fox-backed single "What the World Needs Now." Kelly Clarkson, the first Idol winner, dropped by during a number by Justin Guarini (another Idol alum), who stars with her in the new Fox film From Justin to Kelly.

That barely left time for the paying advertisers, who are ponying up fees of $500,000 for a 30-second spot. "You can't survive in the marketplace without having one of these phenoms on your schedule," says Sandy Grushow, chairman of Fox Television Entertainment Group. "The danger is overdoing it."

Fox has had less success with shows such as Married by America (a bomb) and Mr. Personality, featuring Monica Lewinsky and a band of masked men who compete for the attention of a beautiful woman. Although the show opened big, ratings have steadily dropped off.

Conservative tilt. No such problems can be found at Fox News, which is No. 1 among cable news and only recently slipped out of the top spot among all cable networks during prime time. With its heavily conservative roster of talk-show hosts (Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly), it has been accused of being an extension of the Bush administration. Others have charged that Murdoch uses the network to butter up the Bush folks in return for favorable treatment from regulators.

But while Fox clearly does have more conservatives on air than CNN or MSNBC (a fact the network does not dispute), that alone does not explain its current popularity. "Fox News has figured how to move from news to an entertaining discussion of the news, full of shouting and loud opinions, without losing viewers," says Tim Brooks, the senior vice president for research at Lifetime Television. "The average CNN viewer drops in for 10 minutes and leaves; the average Fox viewer hangs around for 20 to 25 minutes."

Fox also has created so-called appointment television--not an easy accomplishment on a news network--where viewers tune in specifically to see, say, The O'Reilly Factor (the top cable news show with 4.6 million viewers nightly) as they once did for Larry King Live, now in sixth place with 2.7 million. Although the war coverage cost all the networks in advertising dollars, Fox's ad revenue is expected to climb 50 percent this year.

But all of that pales in comparison with what might be coming. The DirecTV deal will give Murdoch not only a U.S. platform and 11 million new subscribers to add to his growing worldwide network but also leverage that few can match in both the $72 billion pay-TV industry and in cable programming.

With a satellite network, Fox will have a protected outlet for its own programming, particularly sports. But Murdoch, who says the deal will create more than $700 million in savings, also will be able to wrangle better deals with the big cable companies whom Fox must pay for carriage of its programming. Murdoch can push them to give him a good price in return for distribution on DirecTV. "It is a transformative deal that will have an impact throughout the media business," says Dennis McAlpine, an entertainment analyst. "That's why Rupert has lusted after it for so long."

Bulking up. But deals of their dreams have been the undoing of media moguls before, and integrating DirecTV with News Corp.'s other properties will be no small task. "There's a big difference between looking at the company and actually being in there," says Chernin. "This is a huge, huge undertaking for us, and there's a lot to learn."

Fox may also be about to learn what it's like to be in even greater control of the national news appetite. Next month, the FCC is expected to lift the ban on cross-ownership between newspapers and television. Current restrictions forbid a company from owning two of the top television stations or a TV station and large daily newspaper in the same city. There also are bans on owning stations across the country that reach more than 35 percent of the national audience.

When it was suggested to Chernin that he might like to have any of the superhuman powers of the mutants in Fox's hit movie X-Men 2 to take the company into the future, he shied away from choosing among them. Perhaps that's because he knows that Fox will need them all.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: foxnews
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last
To: Miss Marple
I take it that your only goal is to suppress discussion.
41 posted on 05/10/2003 8:11:56 PM PDT by UnBlinkingEye
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: UnBlinkingEye
Are you some kind of nut? Silly me, you are just another typical liberal lefty demonRAT out trolling.
42 posted on 05/10/2003 8:24:50 PM PDT by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: UnBlinkingEye
"What's your goal?" For some, (present company excepted of course) it is to punch your lights out.
43 posted on 05/10/2003 8:27:06 PM PDT by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Ursus arctos horribilis
Are you some kind of a nut? Do you believe whatever the Republicrats tell you? How about that whopper, they haven't spent the Social Security trust fund?
44 posted on 05/10/2003 8:30:42 PM PDT by UnBlinkingEye
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: gcruse
"This is what I don't understand. The present DirecTV viewers, of which I am one,
already have Fox News available. How would Newscorp owning DirecTV make
a cable company put Fox on their system if it's not there now? And how will Fox
owning DirecTV smash a cable company that didn't? IOW what difference does
it make who owns DirecTV if Fox is already on it?"


A great many cable shows are carried on Direct TV, but few cable companies allow Fox coverage. Now if Fox owns Direct TV and then if ...., I think you now begin to get the picture.
45 posted on 05/10/2003 8:31:42 PM PDT by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: UnBlinkingEye
Bob, our government lies to us all the time and FOX is repeating false statements issued by the government as truth. Do you view government as God, a bastion of truth?

What gov't? Local? State? Federal? If whatever one you are referring to "lies all the time" please give some examples of such lies, by whom and when. Then who on Fox repeated the "gov't" lies and when.

You asked "do you view government as God, a bastion of truth?" Why ask such a question?

46 posted on 05/10/2003 8:32:02 PM PDT by isthisnickcool (Tag, your're it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Ursus arctos horribilis
I'm surprised they would admit that, but nothing else makes sense. Thanks.
47 posted on 05/10/2003 8:33:41 PM PDT by gcruse (Vice is nice, but virtue can hurt you. --Bill Bennett)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

I do not watch the Fox Channel...and I've never watch the Idol or the Millionaire; but the News Channel is always on. From room to room; except where Dora the Explorer or Blues Clues might be on. Brit is the best....except for Tony Snow.
48 posted on 05/10/2003 8:40:02 PM PDT by jatfla
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: isthisnickcool
Gulf war one, we through our ambassador sanctioned the attack, then we demanded withdrawal. We lied about incubators and war crimes.

Yugoslavia, we lied about genocide and laid waste to people that had never attacked us.

Gulf War Two, we lied about massive stockpiles of WMD's, we lied about genocide and laid waste to people that had never attacked us.

Cool, Huh?

49 posted on 05/10/2003 8:44:25 PM PDT by UnBlinkingEye
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: isthisnickcool
What gov't? Local? State? Federal? If whatever one you are referring to "lies all the time" please give some examples of such lies, by whom and when. Then who on Fox repeated the "gov't" lies and when.

I'm surprised you are uniformed. We were told that massive threats to our nation from Iraqs WMD were the reason for our pre-emptive attack. Please bear in mind that they have never attacked us and we supported them in their war with Iran. Note that we have found no so-called WMDs. Our justification is groundless God Forgive Us.

50 posted on 05/10/2003 8:54:34 PM PDT by UnBlinkingEye
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: UnBlinkingEye
Cool, Huh?

Not if I expected my questions to be answered.

51 posted on 05/10/2003 8:56:49 PM PDT by isthisnickcool (Tag, your're it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: UnBlinkingEye
I'm surprised you are uniformed. We were told that massive threats to our nation from Iraqs WMD were the reason for our pre-emptive attack. Please bear in mind that they have never attacked us and we supported them in their war with Iran. Note that we have found no so-called WMDs. Our justification is groundless God Forgive Us.

I'm surprised you are uniformed.

LOL! Nevermind! Forget I asked.

52 posted on 05/10/2003 9:03:43 PM PDT by isthisnickcool (Tag, your're it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Pokey78
I'd like to see Fox go head to head against Rather/Brokaw/Jennings with a newscast to be carried by Fox broadcast network affiliates.

Maybe a two headed anchor - Brit for Gravitas, Shep for Fox Attitude?
53 posted on 05/10/2003 9:05:47 PM PDT by big time major leaguer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BOBTHENAILER; Alamo-Girl; Sabertooth; Clinton Is Scum
...T'was Friend of HILLARY...

...Energy Secretary BILL RICHARDSON...

...who knowinly authorized the Fires around Los Alamos during its yearly windy season...

...after representing Los Alamos in Congress for 11 years.

...T'was also BILL RICHARDSON that Friend of HILLARY Communist North Korea sent Rep's to see as it cranked up its NUKE Trouble with us to try and divert BUSH from brining Freedom to Iraq.

The Enemy is now Within...
and always has been.
54 posted on 05/10/2003 9:09:00 PM PDT by ALOHA RONNIE (Vet-Battle of IA DRANG-1965 www.LZXRAY.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: UnBlinkingEye
Okay...here's a news flash for you. There is NO "trust fund". This is the same crap Al Bore tried in 2000. I wish there WAS a social security "trust fund". And there's no "lock box" either. Everyone thinks that when the S.S. $$$ comes out of their checks it goes into their own little account in S.S.. It doesn't. It goes into the General Fund. If I could fix S.S. I would make it so that the $$$ that comes out of your check does go into your own "trust fund" or whatever quaint little phrases the Marxists in the 'RAT Party and their willing accomplices at CNNABCNBCCBSPBS are using nowadays. Hell, I'd rather keep 100% of that money coming out of my paycheck that goes to Social Security and invest it myself. I bust my chops for it and it's my Dang money! Geez, I get so mad at frickin' Marxist Liberals!
55 posted on 05/10/2003 9:13:34 PM PDT by BlueOneGolf (3rd Infantry Division. "Rock of the Marne!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: BlueOneGolf
Thanks for making my point. The Republicrats have been lying to us all, why support them?
56 posted on 05/10/2003 9:18:37 PM PDT by UnBlinkingEye
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: ALOHA RONNIE
Thanks for the heads up!
57 posted on 05/10/2003 9:45:13 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: UnBlinkingEye
Gee, im convinced...What moron wouldnt switch to the other party after your fabulous argument?!?! You forgot your "Bush = hitler" sign...
58 posted on 05/10/2003 9:50:22 PM PDT by smith288 (Do not mold Jesus to match your life, mold your life to match Jesus.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: Grampa Dave
I quit cable also for the same reason. Will get direct tv also just to watch Fox News....
59 posted on 05/10/2003 9:51:41 PM PDT by savagesusie (An Ann Coulter fan!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: UnBlinkingEye
I understand your apparent hatred for Fox news, what I don't understand, is why they bother you so. There are numerious news networks, granted they are the opposite of Fox, and all have the same view point, but they out number Fox. As for Brit Hume, I'm not sure how you define what being a journalist as, if you use the dictionary defination, he qualifies, that and the fact that many of his own personal political beliefs are, in fact unknown. Now, you do hate the republican party, alot of democrats do. However, given a choice between the 2, I'd rather take the repubs, if you believed they have lied, that is your belief, but bear in mind, no one in this administration, will ever be indicted (impeached) for perjury.
60 posted on 05/10/2003 11:04:27 PM PDT by Sonny M ("oderint dum metuant".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson