Gary Newman and Dana Walden, presidents of 20th Century Fox Television for eight years, have now been promoted to chairmen at the studio.
President and COO of News Corp. (NWS-A) Peter Chernin said, "Under Gary and Dana's leadership for the past decade, 20th Century Fox Television has achieved unparalleled success in the television marketplace and has been at the forefront of successfully leveraging new technologies to extend its hit franchises. Their promotion to chairmen is richly deserved."
Newman and Walden have been on the forefront of the industry, leading 20th TV to fiscal responsibility by launching Fox21, a division created to produce low-cost series. Under their watch they also created a mobile entertainment unit that introduced the mobile-phone series genre with their "24: Conspiracy" series.
"We're determined to crack low-cost production; it's a corporate mandate," Walden said. "We're spending energy producing scripted TV series for less with Fox21, and our goal is to be more aggressive on the cable front. Beyond that, we're going to stay open-minded and continue to do business with all networks."
They were also the first ones to release just-completed tv series on DVD, right after the season was over. It helped to make "24" the powerhouse it has become.
This is a good promotion by the studio. I like the strategy of committing to low-cost productions. It's something the industry must embrace overall as they head further into the digital entertainment world that has come along with the 21st century.
With the attitude that they don't want to create more corporate layers between them and the studio department heads, the commitment to low-cost production and being leaders in new initiatives in the industry, Fox has a great future ahead of itself.
Comment Preview