Cover Story: Why You'd Better Get to Know Tony V.
Q&A With Fox Networks Group Chairman Tony Vinciquerra
By Melissa Grego -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/23/2009 2:00:00 AM
Fox Networks Group Chairman Tony Vinciquerra has been on the Mel's Diner wish list for a while. That's partly because he is one of the very few people who know every nook and cranny of the television business, from running local stations to the national networks.
He's also been on our radar because even though he has long been a power in TV, overseeing for several years many of News Corp.'s most lucrative TV assets, he has purposely stayed out of the press—which he calls “distracting”—as much as possible.
But Vinciquerra agreed to sit for a long chat last week, just days after he was handed the additional oversight of programming at the Fox broadcasting network as well as some 170 international channels in Rupert Murdoch's major shakeup.
The bold restructuring, announced March 12, made Vinciquerra the top domestic TV executive for News Corp., overseeing all of the Fox broadcast network, cable networks group and the international channels. The move shocked members of the industry and employees of the company alike. It made Vinciquerra one of three executives essentially replacing his current boss, News Corp. President-COO Peter Chernin; it saw the TV studio report through the film studio; and it resulted in the dismissal of Fox Broadcasting Chairman Peter Liguori, replaced by Fox Searchlight film guru Peter Rice.
Over lunch at Spark Woodfire Grill in Los Angeles, Vinciquerra spoke candidly about his new role, his “new” boss, and what lies ahead for Fox and network television in general.
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