Fox Entertainment Group Gets New Chief

Calling on an executive from its television studio to propel its network, Fox Television on Friday afternoon named Peter Roth, the head of Twentieth Century Fox Television, president of the network’s entertainment group.

Roth replaces John A. Matoian, who resigned Friday after holding the job for less than two years.

Neither Matoian nor Roth were available for comment. Matoian’s resignation had been expected for months as Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox parent News Corp., pressured the network to improve its ratings performance and make good on his heavy investments in National Football League game rights and in strengthening Fox’s station affiliation lineup.

Sources say the company acted now to make the change before the launch of the new television season, which officially begins in two weeks.

“There is a tremendous opportunity over the next two to three years to build this network, using the Super Bowl and the big things we have,” said Chase Carey, chairman of Fox Television. “It was important for us to have a team in place to take advantage of those opportunities. John didn’t think that was a commitment that made sense for him.”

As head of Fox’s television production studio, Roth, 45, produces such shows as “Chicago Hope,” “The X-Files” and “The Simpsons.” The studio had its best selling season this year, with 10 new shows picked up by the networks for prime time.

Matoian, 47, a former school teacher and movie executive at CBS, has spent much of the summer away from Fox Entertainment Group tending to his ailing mother. Sources said he and Murdoch did not share the same vision about expanding the network.

Murdoch, who has been seeking to broaden Fox beyond its young audience, paid nearly $1.6 billion for rights to NFL football and an additional $500 million to get nearly a dozen CBS affiliates to switch to Fox. Not satisfied that Fox beat CBS in certain key demographic segments last year, he wants it to be No. 1 in the ratings.

In another management shift this summer, Fox Broadcasting tapped David Hill, its head of sports, to become president of the company, under Carey. Fox executives say Hill is spending the bulk of his time on the network, and Carey said Roth will report to Hill. (Matoian had reported to Carey.)

Fox frequently promotes from within. Matoian worked in Fox’s family-films unit two years ago. Twentieth Century Fox Chairman Peter Chernin, who oversees movie and TV production, also headed Fox Broadcasting before being tapped for that post.

Roth worked as a network executive at ABC for 10 years before becoming head of Stephen J. Cannell’s production company. He joined Fox in 1992 as president of production at Twentieth Network Television and assumed his current post in 1994.

Roth, who will assume his new post in two weeks, was responsible for an unprecedented deal in comedy in the last year, spending more than $60 million for writer-producers, including Chuck Lorre of “Grace Under Fire” and Danny Jacobson of “Mad About You.”

No replacement has been named for Roth, although several names have surfaced, including John Symes, the president of television at MGM.

Roth’s appointment calls into question the future of Robert Greenblatt, Matoian’s No. 2, who has been at the network since 1989--through four presidents. Sources say he has an open invitation from Chernin to join Fox’s feature film studio.