Could a Little Indecency Save Network TV?
News Corp. posted fourth-quarter results yesterday, and it turns out Fox didn’t have such a hot quarter. The operating income of News Corp.’s TV segment fell a whopping 28 percent amid a weak ad sales environment. Fox’s woes aren’t unique — it’s been a rotten year for network television as broadcasters struggle to hold on to dwindling viewers, who now find more compelling content online and on cable TV. Traditional television viewers have migrated to the web and to premium cable channels. The numbers speak for themselves: Time Warner says HBO is poised to grow “by the double-digits” this year. News Corp. said one of the few bright spots of its TV business was its cable division, which grew operating income by $29 million to $313 million in the fourth quarter. And conventional wisdom has it that online video sites — such as Hulu and YouTube — are stealing market share from traditional television. Both subscription-based TV and online video sites are flourishing. As any observer might no
