These are busy times for NBC chief Robert Wright. He is challenging the ownership of Fox Broadcasting by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and continuing talks to merge portions of NBC with Ted Turner's cable operations. Meanwhile, Wright is closely watching the progress of the landmark production deal between the so-called Dream Team -- David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg -- and rival ABC. Profits are rising, too, as hit shows like ""ER'' and ""Frasier'' continue to do well in the ratings.
In an exclusive interview with Newsweek's Johnnie L. Roberts, Wright talked about, among other things, NBC's crusade against Fox (yes, it'll continue to press its complaint), the prospects for the Dream Team (they'll push up the price of writers) and his thoughts on losing David Letterman to CBS. Excerpts:
Fox's ownership structure has been the same since 1986. Why are you in a huff now?
We probably wouldn't have challenged Fox had it not been for the formation of a holding company called Fox Savoy . . . to purchase affiliates throughout the country. That company entered into purchase agreements with a number of our affiliates. So we looked into the arrangement and concluded that it did not meet the control or the foreign-ownership requirements.
What are you hoping for? For the Federal Communications Commission to force News Corp. to cut its ownership to 25 percent as required of foreign owners of U.S. broadcast outlets?
Well, the Fox network and the Fox stations under any scenario will continue to operate pretty much as is, perhaps with different ownership. And most likely under a different financial structure. If the rules haven't changed, Fox must restructure or face the loss of its broadcast licenses. In either case, I hope we get a clear position from the FCC of what the foreign-ownership rules are. If they are as we have understood them, we expect them to apply firmly to everybody.
Well, Fox is striking back, too. It is ques-tioning GE's fitness to be a broadcast owner because GE has been implicated in defrauding the government. Are you concerned?
No. It's unfortunate that comments like that were made because it implies that this is a personal issue. And it isn't.
At the same time you are fighting Fox, you're exploring a merger with Ted Turner. Is GE panting to part with the peacock?
GE is not panting to part with NBC. Turner has a number of programming services that would be very attractive when merged in some reasonable fashion with ours. Ted wants to grow his business at a more rapid rate. And there seems to be some friction between Ted's view of growth and his shareholders'. So if there's a way to do something, that would be attractive.
Are his major shareholders, John Ma-lone's Tele-Communications Inc. and Time Warner, involved directly in the talks?
TCI and Time Warner have substantial interests in Turner. And they also have to vote together on any major issue. So you can surmise that anything of major con-sequence, you are going to find those two involved. But Ted is orchestrating the talks.
Why did recent talks concerning a partial NBC sale to Time Warner break off?
A lot of it had to do with the programming and responsibilities that Time Warner would have versus NBC. But they aren't permitted by the rules currently in effect to have ownership control of the network. And that became a concern to them that they just couldn't get over.
NBC is doing better with new hit shows like ""ER.'' But some analysts worry that the deal between the Dream Team and ABC to produce shows for the network will give ABC an edge on you and CBS. What do you think the impact will be?
It's very speculative because you have to wait a year or two to see what happens. The thing we would note is Spielberg is a producer who primarily writes on movie packages. Katzenberg is an executive. And David Geffen doesn't write. In the near term that team is going to be out trying to acquire the same writer-producer teams that work for Paramount, Warner Bros., Sony, Fox, NBC or CBS. So the biggest impact will be to increase the cost of nailing down those relationships with key writers and producers.
Here's another potential problem. In January Warner Bros. and Tribune Co. plan to launch a network. So do Chris-Craft and Viacom's Paramount. Will the new networks fly? What impact will they have on you?
I think they are primarily syndication networks, as opposed to what we do. We offer programs that have never been seen before, and when they are over they go into syndication. Warner Bros. and Paramount will offer a couple hours of new programming. But they will expect their new affiliates to purchase a good deal of syndicated programming that already exists from them. And if they can become the primary supplier of syndicated programming to the affiliates, that's where they can make a lot of money.
Finally, let's take a look back. Did you blow it by losing David Letterman to stick with Jay Leno?
The goal was to keep Letterman and Leno. We achieved one goal and blew the other. We had to lose Dave. I feel very badly about that. We have Jay, and he is wonderful. CBS has Dave, and he's wonderful. Life goes on.
Uncommon Knowledge
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