Breaking: Fox News Spun Off to Viacom
The broadcasting world was rocked this morning when News Corporation and Viacom announced that Fox News would be sold to Viacom in a deal said to approach $5 billion in both cash and stock. Reached in London, Rupert Murdoch said that Fox News was on a trajectory that was in conflict with two of his prime holdings, the Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins publishing.
"The association with Fox News was making it tougher to recruit top talent for the Journal. I got tired of Gigot's endless complaining and basically did it to shut him up."
Paul Gigot is Editorial Page Editor of the Wall Street Journal and did not return our calls for comment.
Fox News is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corporation. Fox's top stars include Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, all of whom would presumably be bound by contract to stay with the network in spite of the change of ownership.
Judy McGrath, CEO of Viacom's MTV networks said she would be dropping Fox News into MTV's Comedy Channel portfolio. "It's a great fit for us. Between Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report on one hand and Glenn Beck on the other, we'll have a full-spectrum offering."
Asked what she might need to do in order to make Fox News a better fit with the Comedy Channel formula, McGrath replied, "Absolutely nothing."
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Cenk Uygur: Democrats Should Stay Off Fox Until It Confesses
Does anyone really believe that ACORN is the top story? Every day? Or is it possible that is Fox's obvious, ham-handed way of attacking the president daily? I can't believe we're having this argument.
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I'm sure everyone knows by now this story is a parody. It was not covered by any news organization in the world. and no bloggers responded to the post, (except me) But it sure would have been nice to see the characters at Fox sharing a network with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
This is in the "comedy" section.
Kudos to Paul Gigot of The Wall Street Journal for sticking to his guns. and keeping crazy fox news away from such a respectable tabloid as the WSJ. You have made a wise decision. Now business people and investors can be sure they are getting unbiased business perspective, and news stories worthy of a great business daily.
Comedy section. Satire.
Incredible!! This is going to be real interesting. Imagine having O'reilly, Beck and Hannity having their lies and distortions exposed and obliterated, by Steven Colbert, and Jon Stewart, on the same channel, immmediately after they've aired. (Keith Olbermann does a great job of it on MSNBC). What if the new owners (Viacom) of Fixed......I mean fox news, actually require their hosts to finally start telling the truth, and really researching their stories. NAW too much money involved. Get ready though......Jon and Stephen are going to eat these guys alive!!!!
This is satire. It's sitting in the comedy section.
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