Insatiable Disney acquires Fox Family

Executives are still sorting out the details. But look for repeats of ABC shows on the now-ABC Family channel.

[AP photo] Disney chairman addresses TV critics yesterday to answer questions about the $5.3-billion dollar deal to acquire the Fox Family Channel. Disney's acquisitions philosophy, he said, is: "It's never enough."

By ERIC DEGGANS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 24, 2001

PASADENA, Calif. -- How much is enough?

That's the question TV critics had for Disney chairman Michael Eisner on Monday after his announcement of a $5.3-billion deal to purchase Fox Family Worldwide, which owns Fox Family Channel, Fox Kids international channels and other cable properties.

"It is enough, but at the same time, it's never enough," said Eisner of the moves at Disney, which now owns all or part of ESPN, ABC, the Disney channels, Lifetime, the History Channel, E! Entertainment Television and many other cable outlets. "As soon as you say enough, it's like saying you made a (successful) movie and never will get another hit."

Eisner faced a packed room of reporters during the Television Critics Association's summer press tour to talk about the deal, which had been reported for days. He emphasized how it would allow the company to rebroadcast ABC content such as World News Tonight, Nightline, Good Morning America and up to 25 percent of its prime time schedule on the newly christened ABC Family channel.

Details were sketchy. Disney executives said they still were trying to figure out how to use what they have bought from Fox Corp. and Saban Entertainment (the cost: $3-billion cash and $2.3-million in debt).

Viewers won't see a change until the deal closes in about three to four months, executives said. But the implication is they could get a second chance to see popular shows such as Spin City or The Practice on ABC Family (this fall, Lifetime will air Once and Again at 11 p.m. Sunday after it airs on the network).

ABC Family also gets Saban's library of kid-oriented cartoons, including the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Digimon and Spider-Man.

Any downside of the deal has yet to be determined.

One detail Disney executives wouldn't discuss: a requirement that ABC Family broadcast conservative Christian show The 700 Club. It was inherited from Fox Family Channel and instituted by the cable outlet's original owner, televangelist Pat Robertson.

The announcement Monday sparked ABC's leg of the press tour, which had suffered due to critics' lackluster reaction to many of the network's shows.

Among the news: Horror novel master Stephen King will write and executive produce The Kingdom, a series for fall 2002 based on a Danish miniseries about a hospital built on a burial ground. The network's new La Femme Nikita-style series, Alias, debuts Sept. 30 commercial-free because of a sponsorship from Nokia.

And though executives wouldn't say directly that scheduling four showings of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire last season hurt, ABC this fall will present only two editions: a special version Tuesdays (beginning Sept. 10 with a celebrity sports game) and the regular game with non-celebrity contestants on Thursdays.

"Clearly, we're in the post-phenomenon side of that show," said Lloyd Braun, co-chairman of ABC Entertainment Television Group. "We're just trying to schedule it in a smart, competitive way."

While executives stressed their need to take risks, critics questioned some of their actions: moving NYPD Blue from Tuesdays to 10 p.m. Wednesdays against NBC's powerhouse Law & Order; eliminating the most watched night of Millionaire, at 9 p.m. Sundays, for Alias; and scheduling Seinfeld alum Jason Alexander's new comedy, Bob Patterson, against a buzz saw of competition at 9 p.m. Tuesdays (including NBC's Frasier).

Movie stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, facing reporters for the second time on the tour to plug their new reality series, The Runner, wouldn't say much. They refused to give many details of the game and resisted the idea that a cross-country chase broadcast on national television might attract dangerous people hoping to affect the game.

"Any time you have people in the public eye -- and I have some experience with it -- there is a nutball contingent," Affleck said of the show, which debuts Jan. 7. "I guess what's to prevent people . . . is there are laws, and you know, you're not supposed to run over people in your car."

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