Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch talks about Tom Brady, Hollywood’s Covid protocols and “bloodbath in the SVOD market”

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady would be much more than an analyst for Fox Sports Sunday night, but a partner after signing a $ 375 million contract for ten years at Tampa Bay. .

“The biggest thing with Tom that really interested and excited me about this opportunity is that in addition to being a senior analyst on Sundays, he will be our partner in esports. Fox Ambassador. He works with ad providers and customers. Engaged in marketing. He’s going to be a great analyst and our partner, “Murdoch said in a lengthy Q&A session at MoffettNathanson’s press conference. (Fox disputed Brady’s price, which was reported in his New York Post, saying it wasn’t. an “accurate reflection of the agreement.”)

Brady starts walking away. Speaking at Fox’s previous presentation on Monday, he made a strong hint that he was looking forward to joining the Fox team for Super Bowl 57.

Murdoch also indicated that he wants less restrictive covid-19 protocols for production, which he says support the cancellation of $ 30 million of scripting software, which cut revenue last quarter because covid production was delayed. “It was a reasonable recovery, but it was tied to Covid’s delayed production schedules. It must be said that we work with Covid protocols designed in full pandemic, before vaccination, with potentially more powerful Covid-19 strains. They were absolutely correct protocols. But we are still working with them and it causes huge delays when someone gets sick. “

“Hopefully it will change,” he said.

In an evolving broadcast landscape, the ad-supported owner of Tubi “happily watches this blood on the SVOD market.”

Netflix lost subscribers last quarter and said it was preparing to launch an ad-supported offer after Disney did the same. Murdoch believes Fox already has an advantage because “we didn’t artificially save the lost SVOD service.” When asked if he was concerned about increased competition for dollar ad streams, he said no, because “let’s not confuse the consumer message with different levels.”

Speaking to Fox News, Murdoch was asked if he had been watching the network “in prime time for some of the advertiser’s hesitation content,” a secret reference to the controversial hosts driving the network’s highest ratings, Tucker Carlson. Murdoch noted that advertising has grown, but a few years ago he focused on the rebranding of Fox News Media, which includes Fox Digital, the audio / podcast business, the pop-up book business, and Fox Weather, which generate all new sources of income.

“We’re not alone in the news world,” he said. “And when you talk to our fans in Central America, with people who are heavy-handed viewers of Fox News, they don’t see us as a news company, they see us as an American media brand. He didn’t mention Carlson (Fox executives rarely do this in public), but he yelled at Jesse Waters: Five and Greg Gutfield (Gutfield!).

As previous presentations continued this week, it showed Fox’s lineup in sports with Super Bowl LVII and the NFL and FIFA World Cup. Advertising will also have a significant gap to the by-election, which should set a spending record.