Let’s Make a Deal: Fox Entertainment is Open for International Business, Execs Tell Mipcom Crowd

AMC Networks followed the discouraging pattern of media and tech companies reporting advertising downturns in the third quarter.

President Joe Biden once again gave a speech warning of the future of democracy, keying in on some GOP candidates’ refusal to commit to accepting the election results.

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch declined to directly address deliberations about a potential reunion with corporate sibling News Corp. during Fox’s quarterly earnings call, but he readily acknowledged the importance of scale in the media business.

Fox Corp. rode a surge in political ad spending and continued growth in streaming in its fiscal first quarter, posting financial results above Wall Street analysts’ expectations.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Carol Mendelsohn and Julie Weitz’s Carol Mendelsohn Productions (CMP) has signed a multi-year first-look broadcast direct deal with Fox Entertainment. The announcement was made by Michael Thorn, Fox Entertainment’s president of entertainment, during MIPCOM Cannes. Under the deal, CMP will develop scripted drams for Fox. Should any shows be greenlit, they would be wholly owned by Fox with Mendelsohn and Weitz executive producing. CMP has already set up one project for development under the deal — a series adaptation of the Thomas Perry novel “The Bomb Maker.” Per the official logline, the series “follows former commander Dick Stahl, who is called in after the majority of the LAPD Bomb Squad is killed by a house bomb. On his first day back, the now three-person team is dispatched to a suspected car bomb, and it quickly becomes clear to him that they are dealing with an unusual criminal mastermind―one whose intended target appears to be the Bomb Squad itself.”

“CSI” showrunner and executive producer Carol Mendelsohn and producing partner Julie Weitz have struck a multi-year first-look broadcast direct deal with Fox Entertainment, president of entertainment Michael Thorn announced at MIPCOM Cannes. The duo’s previous deal with Universal Television is now over.Under the terms, Mendelsohn and Weitz will develop scripted dramas for the Fox.

Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age drama The Fabelmans has been announced as the opening film of 44th Cairo International Film Festival, running from November 13 to 22.

When you’re deep in among the cocktail parties and dinners or meeting up with much missed contacts at Mipcom, it might be easy to forget you’re there: the shows. To help you remember, we bring you Deadline’s The Hot Ones, our guide to some of the best TV being sold in Cannes in 2022. You might have heard whispers along the Croisette about the next big global hit, and The Hot Ones is our pick of a wealth of programing, featuring some of the biggest names in television, from the top players in distribution.

New Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade has talked up the potential for TMZ to become a “huge entertainment studio,” setting out his stall at Mipcom Cannes for the first time since he replaced Charlie Collier.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Fox has given out an early Season 2 renewal to the Jon Hamm-led animated comedy “Grimsburg” before the show has even premiered. The announcement was made by Michael Thorn, president of entertainment for Fox Entertainment, during a MIPCOM panel moderated by Variety‘s co-editor-in-chief, Cynthia Littleton. “’Grimsburg’ is yet another clear example of our strong commitment to, and intense focus on, upholding the high bar of standards any show must exceed in order to reside under the Animation Domination banner,” Thorn said. “Of course, having Jon Hamm’s talent and star power front and center is a great place to start. Equally important, everything we’re seeing with ‘Grimsburg’ – from the very first scripts and show bible to animatics and preliminary cuts – makes us believe we have a winner on our hands that beautifully complements our animation brand.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor OpenAP was built by traditional TV companies hoping to get their collective hands around new ad-tech that is generating millions of advertising dollars Now they are reaching outside of their circle. The advertising consortium, owned by NBCUniversal, Fox Corp., Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, has enlisted an investment from Snowflake Ventures, a company that specializes in cloud-based data and analytics. Snowflake will be the first company from outside the traditional TV business to have ownership in Open AP. “This investment from Snowflake is really a testament to the publishers saying, ‘We know this is where the industry is going,'” says David Levy, CEO of Open AP, in an interview.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor CANNES — International TV sales veteran Jim Packer has set a multi-year deal with Lionsgate that will keep him on the senior management team as president of worldwide TV distribution. News of his contract extension was revealed Oct. 17, just as the Mipcom content marketplace kicks off this week in Cannes, bringing the global TV community together for the first full time in three years. Packer has been with Lionsgate since 2011. The news that he has re-upped comes at a time of uncertainty for the studio. Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer has said the company, which is home to the Lionsgate studio and Starz pay TV platform, is considering options for separating those assets, possibly by selling off the studio to focus on building up Starz.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is exploring a re-combination of the family’s Fox Corp. and News Corp., which split into two separately companies nearly a decade ago. The boards of directors of both have set up committees to examine the possibility.

Friday report in The Wall Street Journal.The Journal – itself part of the News Corp side of Murdoch’s holdings – says the discussions are at an “early stage,” with special exploratory board committees forming on both sides. A merger would bring the media empires back under one roof since Murdoch split his holdings in 2013 into News Corp, which is primarily publishing, and Fox Corp., mostly TV.Murdoch, 91, is currently executive chair of both companies.

Community alum Joel McHale has been tapped for the lead of Fox’s straight-to-series workplace comedy, Animal Control. McHale also will executive produce the single-camera show, Fox Entertainment’s first wholly owned live-action comedy.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Rick Caruso is confident that he’s going to be the next mayor of Los Angeles.  “I’m getting the job,” he says with a grin before sitting down to detail his vision for the future of the entertainment industry in Los Angeles in an interview with Variety‘s “Strictly Business.”  The real estate developer who is behind such retail destinations as the Grove and Glendale’s the Americana is vying against Congresswoman Karen Bass for the job of leading the nation’s second largest city at a time when L.A. is beset with crises — most acutely, the growing ranks of the unhoused.

As the fall sports calendar reaches a peak moment, especially in New York with the Yankees in the playoffs and the Jets finally on a winning path, Fox Corp. has warned Altice customers that a carriage fight could knock sports and other programming off the air.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Subscribers to Altice USA’s Optimum cable service face the prospect of days ahead without Fox’s broadcasts of NFL football and post-season Major League Baseball if contract talks between the two sides fail. Fox is starting to tell Altice subscribers via messages on its broadcast stations and cable networks that they face a potential blackout of programming. Fox and Altice have been in discussions for the past several weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter, but remain “materially apart” on terms. The companies’ current contract is slated to end at midnight Thursday, this person says. Meanwhile, Altice believes Fox is seeking rate increases that would be onerous to subscribers.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor “Blonde” producer Plan B Entertainment is looking for a new blueprint. The production banner run by Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner has tapped Moelis & Co. to shop for a buyer or potential investors. The company has a first-look deal for TV with Amazon Studios and a pact with MGM Studios for film. Reps for Moelis & Co. declined comment. Reps for Plan B could not immediately be reached for comment. Plan B was hatched in late 2001 as a partnership between Pitt and actor Jennifer Aniston, about four months after the two were married in July 2001. Pitt eventually took over the venture after the pair split in 2005.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox Corp. is expanding its efforts to track viewers who might toggle between its Tubi video-streaming hub and its mainstream broadcast outlet. The media company has struck a multi-year deal with Innovid that will utilize the ad-tech and measurement firm’s technology to push Fox’s efforts to find new ways to gauge the performance of commercials placed on its media properties, no matter the venue. “As more viewers engage with content across multiple screens, it remains vital that we continue to work with our ad partners and provide them with the necessary data and insights that further display the value of converged TV and the engaged audiences and concentrated impact FOX delivers,” said Dan Callahan, senior vice president of data strategy and sales innovation at Fox, in a prepared statement. “Our partnership with Innovid is another step forward in expanding and delivering cross-platform measurement solutions that further align with our advertisers’ objectives.”