The Skinny: I got through the day without any pizza. Let's see if I can make it two in a row. Tuesday's headlines include
Daily Dose: Scott Sassa, the former president of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication who exited his job earlier this year after racy text messages between him and a young woman were sent to his bosses and leaked to the media, has landed a new gig. Sassa was named vice chairman of the El Rey Network, a new cable channel being launched by director Robert Rodriguez later this year. "Scott is a dynamic, seasoned leader in television who has produced results at every stop he's made, and he's an innovator who understands the digital future," Rodriguez said.
Making big bets. After a season that saw its ratings tumble by 20%, Fox is rolling out some big names both in front and behind the camera, including J.J. Abrams, Seth MacFarlane, Greg Kinnear and Matt Dillon, for the next TV season. However, the network is still keeping mum on what new names will be on its two talent shows --
Splitting Sony? Daniel Loeb, a hedge fund manager, wants Sony to spin off its entertainment assets from the rest of the consumer electronic giant, according to the New York Times. Loeb's fund has become one of Sony's largest shareholders, and he was instrumental in the recent shakeup at Yahoo that saw
More for less. This week, as you are aware, the broadcast networks are presenting their fall schedules to advertisers. Then, in the coming weeks, the sales executives will go out and ask those advertisers to pay more this year than they did last year even though ratings are actually down at most networks. How's that work? Well, the networks argue that even though their audience is shrinking, they still have the biggest piece of the pie and because the viewing universe is more fragmented than ever that makes their commercial inventory even more valuable. Does your head hurt yet? If not, here's a story about it and whether this is the year that reality hits the networks from the Los Angeles Times.
U.S. Open may jump net to cable. ESPN is near a deal to acquire the rights to the U.S. Open tennis tournament, one of the sport's marquee events. The deal would include the semifinals and finals currently held by CBS. According to Sports Business Journal, ESPN would pay $60 million a year for the event, which also appears on the
I'll be toxic. Normally, the Morning Fix stays away from stories about movie or TV projects because so many end up never getting off the ground. But every now and then one pops up that just demands coverage. Such is the case today as Variety reports that
Inside the Los Angeles Times: Before there was
Follow me on Twitter and keep me honest. @JBFlint.