Dana Walden and Gary Newman, who have served as presidents of Twentieth Century Fox Television (TCFTV) for nearly a decade, have been promoted to chairmen of the studio.
"Under Gary and Dana's leadership for the past decade, 20th Century Fox Television has achieved unparalleled success in the television marketplace and has been at the forefront of successfully leveraging new technologies to extend its hit franchises," said Peter Charmin, president/coo News Corp., to whom they report. "Their promotion to chairmen is richly deserved."
Named presidents of TCFTV in 1999, Newman & Walden have been responsible for overseeing operations for the studio, and have been instrumental in building TCFTV into a leading supplier of blockbuster television programming. They have guided the company to unparalleled success across all media, from broadcast and cable television to syndication, mobile, broadband and beyond. TCFTV is creative haven and home to Seth MacFarlane, Shawn Ryan, Greg Garcia, Ryan Murphy, David E. Kelley, Howard Gordon and Joel Curnow and enjoys an exclusive relationship with Imagine Television.
In addition to its roster of acclaimed live-action scripted comedies and dramas, TCFTV remains the undisputed industry leader in producing animated comedies for primetime, with five animated hits currently in production on new episodes. The studio's series for the 2007-2008 season include: 24, BACK TO YOU, BONES, PRISON BREAK, THE SIMPSONS, FAMILY GUY, K-VILLE, SHARK, MY NAME IS EARL, BEAUTY AND THE GEEK and HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, among others.
They also oversee the studio's worldwide licensing and merchandising division, which is charged with extending and exploiting the company's vast array of entertainment properties, including THE SIMPSONS, FAMILY GUY and 24 in categories, such as publishing, videogames, promotions, e-commerce, retail, themed entertainment and consumer products. Moreover, the pair oversee licensing and merchandising efforts for the properties of Fox Film, Fox Sports, and a number of third party product, including the crown jewel property of Microsoft Game Studios, HALO.
In the fall of 2002, Newman & Walden pioneered the now common industry practice of releasing television series on DVD immediately following each broadcast season, a revolutionary idea which helped propel the Fox drama, 24, to blockbuster status in its second year on the air.
They have also been at the vanguard of developing new production models, creating fox21 in 2004, a production house devoted to empowering writers to produce their "passion projects" by rethinking conventional television production economics. They launched the first studio mobile entertainment unit that originated the mobile phone series with 24: CONSPIRACY. The unit has gone on to produce a wide range of innovative content based on the studio's hit franchises for the worldwide wireless market.
Prior to being named president alongside Newman, Walden was the studio's evp of drama, overseeing an award-winning slate of programming. She joined the studio's creative department in 1994 as vp of current programming after holding the position of svp media and corporate relations for both Twentieth Television and TCFTV. She began her career at the public relations firm Bender, Goldman & Helper.
Newman was the studio's evp and top ranking business officer, prior to being appointed president with Walden in 1999, and was instrumental in building TCFTV into an industry leader both domestically and abroad. Prior to his tenure at TCFTV, he was an exec in the business affairs department of NBC for six years. Newman began his career as an attorney.
Fox Entertainment Group's primary American television studio, 20th Century Fox Television is a leading producer of primetime network series.
News Corp. is a diversified entertainment company with operations in eight industry segments: filmed entertainment; television; cable network programming; direct broadcast satellite television; magazines and inserts; newspapers; book publishing and other. Its activities are conducted principally in the U.S., continental Europe, the U.K., Australia, Asia and the Pacific Basin. News Corp. had total assets as of March 31, 2007, of approximately $62 billion and total annual revenues of approximately $28 billion.
