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 The company said Fox Broadcasting Company and 20th Century
Fox Television will be housed under a new unit, Fox Television
Group, bringing together its TV broadcasting and production
units.
The move comes almost two months after Fox's top broadcast
executive, Kevin Reilly, left from the network after it lost its
top spot among viewers in the 18-49 age group that advertisers
covet most.
Marquee Fox programs like singing contest "American Idol" and
musical series "Glee" have also suffered sharp ratings declines
in recent years.
Fox said Dana Walden and Gary Newman, both veterans at the
network, will serve as co-chairmen and chief executive officers
of the new Fox Television Group.
Combining the network and studio in the same unit will lead to a
more streamlined development process, Walden said during a media
conference call. The structure is similar to the way competing
broadcasters operate.
"We want to make the development process smoother and more
seamless" she said. "When a writer walks in the door with an
idea, we will now be able to offer a singular point of view,
which should offer tremendous reassurances to the talent."
The Fox studio will continue to produce shows for other
networks, and the Fox broadcast network will air some series
from other studios, the executives said.
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Fox currently produces Showtime drama "Homeland" and ABC comedy
"Modern Family," a perennial Emmy winner.
The shakeup of Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox's TV units
also comes a year after the film and TV company was spun off from
Murdoch's News Corp, which now operates publishing assets, including
the Wall Street Journal.
Fox averaged 7.3 million daily prime-time viewers during the 2013-14
season, according to Nielsen data. That was up from 7 million last
year, but the network fell one place to fourth behind CBS, NBC and
ABC, respectively.
Its entertainment lineup consists of acclaimed comedies such as "The
Mindy Project" and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," but those shows have yet to
generate top-line ratings for the network.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Mary
Milliken and Jonathan Oatis)
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