Fox Craves Bigger Cut of TV Rivals’ Food Advertising Dollars (EXCLUSIVE)

BreAnna Bell Fox has given a straight-to-series order for the medical procedural drama “Doc.” The series is slated to debut on the network in 2023-2024. Hailing from executive producers Barbie Kligman (“Magnum P.I.,” “Secrets and Lies,” “Private Practice”), Hank Steinberg (“For Life,” “Without a Trace”) and Erwin Stoff (“I Am Legend,” “The Matrix”), “Doc” is based on the Italian series “Nelle tue mani,” which was created and is produced by Lux Vide, a division of Fremantle. According to Fox’s official description, “Doc” focuses on Dr. Amy Elias, chief of internal and family medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis. “After a brain injury erases the last eight years of her life, Amy must navigate an unfamiliar world where she has no recollection of patients she’s treated, colleagues she’s crossed, the soulmate she divorced, the man she now loves and the tragedy that caused her to push everyone away. She can rely only on her estranged 17-year-old daughter, whom she remembers as a 9-year-old, and a handful of devoted friends, as she struggles to continue practicing medicine, despite having lost nearly a decade of knowledge and experience,” the description reads.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Dominion Voting Systems’ whopping $1.6 billion defamation suit against Fox Corporation and Fox News is cleared to go to trial, despite the media company’s efforts. Barring a settlement or other unforeseen circumstances, the voting technology company will get to have its attorneys grill Fox News anchors and Fox Corp. executives, Judge Eric M. Davis of Superior Court in State of Delaware ruled in a filing on Friday. “The Court will allow this civil action to go to trial,” Davis said Friday. At issue in the case are damages Dominion alleges it is owed after Fox News aired false claims about its actions and influence on the 2020 election. It is the second legal proceeding made against Fox News for its coverage of the aftermath of the 2020 race for the White House. Smartmatic, a separate voting technology company, has filed a massive $2.7 billion suit against Fox News. Both suits allege that Fox News falsely claimed the companies had rigged the election, repeated items about the matter and then refused to engage in efforts to set the record straight. The 2020 election was not fixed and its results were certified by multiple legal processes.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor ABC News will shrink the size of its executive team in the wake of layoffs ordered by its corporate parent, Walt Disney Co. Among the senior executives leaving the Disney news unit are Wendy Fisher, the senior vice president of newsgathering who joined the organization in 1989 as a desk assistant; Galen Gordon, senior vice president of talent strategy and development; Mary Noonan, vice president of talent strategy and development; and Alison Rudnick, a media industry veteran who joined ABC News from CNN in 2021 to represent ABC News President Kim Godwin as vice president of corporate communications. Others who are leaving include Chris Vlasto, a veteran senior executive producer who led ABC News’ investigative unit; Heather Riley, an executive editorial producer who has long been seen as a trusted lieutenant of anchor George Stephanopoulos; and David Herndon, ABC News’ Los Angeles bureau chief who has been with ABC News since joining as a producer in 1999.

Global brand events veteran Diana Ruiz has been named Executive Vice President, Experiences and Design at Fox Entertainment, the media company announced on Wednesday. She will report to Fox Entertainment and Fox Sports Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Acosta. “With more than 20 years in the global events arena, Diana possesses considerable, proven creativity, discipline and operational excellence,” said Acosta.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox News is about to have one of its biggest events in years, and everyone from CEO Suzanne Scott to prominent anchors like Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo to primetime chief Meade Cooper is likely to attend some part of it. If Fox’s parent company has its way, however, Rupert Murdoch, the guiding force behind much of Fox Corporation, will not. Starting as soon as April 17, Fox Corp. could square off in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware and face allegations of defamation from Dominion Voting Systems in a whopping $1.6 billion-dollar suit that is sure to generate headlines. Before any of that can start, however, the two sides appear to locked in a battle over whether the Fox Corp. executive chairman, and his son, CEO Lachlan Murdoch, should be present in court to give testimony.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox News cut ties with Abby Grossberg Friday, Variety has learned, after the booker and producer for such hosts as Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo alleged in court filings earlier this week that she was coerced by executives into providing misleading testimony in the $1.6 billion defamation suit that Dominion Voting Systems has levied against the Fox Corp.-backed outlet. Grossberg, who had worked as a senior booking producer for Bartiromo and head of booking for Carlson, alleged in filings in Delaware Superior Court and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that Fox attorneys worked to “coach, manipulate, and coerce Ms. Grossberg to deliver shaded and/or incomplete answers during her sworn deposition testimony, which answers were clearly to her reputational detriment but greatly benefitted Fox News,” according to her Delaware lawsuit.

Fox’s crime anthology “Accused” and Philadelphia-set procedural “Alert: Missing Persons Unit” will get second seasons, the network said Thursday. The dramas, which are co-produced by Sony Pictures Television and Fox Entertainment, will air the second seasons in the 2023-24 season.Both series have premiered with impressive first seasons as the Jan.

Fox is doubling down on a pair of freshman crime dramas.

Fox just announced a Season 2 renewals for two freshman drama series, anthology Accused and missing person drama Alert, both from Sony Pictures TV and Fox Entertainment. They join previously renewed sophomore drama The Cleaning Lady as well as animated stalwarts The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers.

Before Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, there was Boris Becker. Affectionately known as “Boom Boom” for his fast and accurate serve and volleying technique, the West Germany-born Becker was one of the best tennis players of his generation.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor A producer for Fox News who has worked for Maria Batirormo and Tucker Carlson alleged in court filings Monday that she was coerced by executives into providing misleading testimony in the $1.6 billion defamation suit that Dominion Voting Systems has levied against the Fox Corp.-backed outlet. In filings made Monday Delaware Superior Court and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Abby Grossberg, who had worked as a senior booking producer for Bartiromo and head of booking for Tucker Carlson, alleged that Fox attorneys worked to “coach, manipulate, and coerce Ms. Grossberg to deliver shaded and/or incomplete answers during her sworn deposition testimony, which answers were clearly to her reputational detriment but greatly benefitted Fox News,” according to the Delaware lawsuit.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox News Media, known best for shows led by Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, is placing new emphasis on programming that relies more heavily on Kevin Costner, weather emergencies and Greg Gutfeld. In a meeting with advertisers slated to be held Tuesday, executives at the Fox Corp.-backed operation, will spotlight a growing array of lifestyle content, while continuing to nod to the political programming that draws some of its networks’ biggest audiences. Among the Fox News Media executives scheduled to be on hand were Suzanne Scott, the CEO, and Jay Wallace, president and executive editor. “If you take a look at our overall audience across all of Fox News Media, 40% comes from lifestyle – sports, weather, entertainment offerings,” says Jeff Collins, executive vice president of advertsing sales for Fox News Media. “We just want to reiterate to our clients the depth and breadth of this type of content that we have outside of just hard news.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The battle for cable-news viewers is coming to March Madness. CNN intends to run a new promo during the heavily watched NCAA men’s basketball tournament that throws a sharp verbal elbow at Fox News Channel and the legal defamation case filed against it by Dominion Voting Systems. The promos will air starting this weekend on TNT, TBS, TruTV and CBS, all of which carry the games under a joint rights agreement held by the owners of those networks, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, which is also the parent of CNN. Fox News Channel is not mentioned in the promo script, reviewed by Variety, but the references are clear. “What should you expect of a news network?” asks the narrator. “Some bury the truth, while we fight to reveal the facts. The only side we are on is yours.” Viewers see images of CNN correspondents and anchors such as Abby Phillip and Clarissa Ward.

Tom Brady‘s successor has been named.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Pablo Torre is about to become a creature of two worlds. The veteran ESPN writer and on-air personality is leaving the Disney sports-media giant — and he’s staying, too. Torre is joining Meadowlark Media, the content company founded by former ESPN chief John Skipper and the sports commentator Dan Le Batard. And yet, Torre is expected to remain a regular contributor to “Around The Horn” and “Pardon The Interruption,” two of the mainstay programs on the ESPN daytime schedule. “They are looking to build another show directly out of ‘The Dan LeBatard Show,’ which is a monster,” Torre says of Meadowlark in an interview. Torre envisions a digital program with audio and video components that will allow him to “tell original stories, do a bit of journalism and figure out how to make that show a home that can fit all of the things I aspire to do creatively.” Torre will also contribute to Meadowlark’s unscripted efforts.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor When NBC News announced in January that Hallie Jackson, its senior Washington correspondent, would leave the anchoring duties she had held at MSNBC since 2016, some eyebrows rose. But NBC News was chasing something else on the rise: Digital audiences. Since Jackson began anchoring a late-afternoon hour on NBC News Now in December 2021, a growing audience has sought her out. Viewership surged 108% over the course of a year. “You don’t see those numbers in many businesses,” says Janelle Rodriguez, the NBC News executive vice president who oversees the streaming outlet, in an interview. “When you see that level of audience increase, you know you are on to something,” On Monday, Jackson will double her time on her program, “Hallie Jackson Now,” to two hours, which means she will hold forth from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Nexstar Media has spent months assembling a massive roster of TV stations; acquring TV’s CW network; and building the NewsNation cable-news oulet. Now comes the hard part: Getting Madison Avenue to buy ads across all of it. The nation’s largest owner of local TV outlets is ready to make its pitch to advertisers and has already scheduled a presentation for media buyers in New York for April 25. The goal, says Michael Strober, the company’s chief revenue officer, is to showcase the company’s reach among both national and local media. “We can bring local and national to our clients in ways that have never been replicated across the country,” he says in an interview. “The CW, NewsNation, TheHill, Nexstar Digital and over 200 local stations — that to me is our differentiator in the marketplace.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Among the movie stars slated to make an appearance during ABC’s telecast of the Oscars: a young Mickey Mouse and Princess Jasmine. Hyundai Motor America will run a 60-second commercial during the awards program that links its vehicles to Disney characters in no small fashion. Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Princess Jasmine and Aladdin and the “Steamboat Wilie” version of Mickey Mouse all make appearances in the spot, which was crafted with Hyundai’s ad agency, Innocean and Disney’s own creative team. The famous song “When You WIsh Upon A Star,” from Disney’s Pinocchio, plays throughout. “We want to connect with audiences in a very emotional way” says Angelea Zepeda, the automaker’s chief marketing officer, in an interview. “We haven’t done that very well in all the years we have been in the U.S. We have been a little cold. We tried to sell our sheet metal and didn’t’ tell how we care about them as consumers or how we can affect them in their day to day lives.”

OG Made in Chelsea fans won’t find it difficult to remember Victoria Baker-Harber. The 34 year old designer joined the cast back in 2011 and stayed pretty separate from the rest of the cast - apart from her bestie, Mark Francis Vandelli. During her MIC years, the two literally came as a pair, and were usually found either gossiping about the rest of the MIC clan, arguing with one of them, or just staying completely away from them.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Everything seems like it’s going great at Fox Corporation, except for the fact that everything seems like it isn’t. While speaking at an investor conference Thursday, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch praised his family’s decision to sell off a large swath of cable and studio assets to Walt Disney Co. in 2019, a move that left Fox significantly smaller and focused largely on live TV, mainly news and sports. He even brought up a reference to the 1979 comedy “Monty Python’s Life of Brian,” in which a small combatant unencumbered with armor or muscle is able to survive a colosseum fight after his larger opponent suffers a heart attack. “We are the little guy,” said Murdoch. “We are going to be the one that survives.”