Word: diller
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...networks' share of the U.S. viewing audience fell from 89% to 76%. Independents reckon they picked up about half that audience, with the rest turning to cable programming and videocassette recorders. "We think our opportunity lies in the decline of the networks' share of the viewing audience," Diller says. "Those viewers didn't just turn off their sets. They turned to independent stations and that's where we intend to reach them...
...flop mill. Under the ownership of Denver Oilman Marvin Davis, the studio churned out such clunkers as Rhinestone, which paired Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton, and Blame It on Rio, which featured Michael Caine at the beach. But Murdoch has the good fortune of inheriting a shrewd studio boss, Diller, who joined Fox in October 1984 after heading Paramount, where he turned out a stream of hits that included Terms of Endearment and Flashdance. One early result of Diller's stewardship is Commando, the hit film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which has grossed $27.1 million in its first four weeks. 20th...
...Diller is already turning around the financial fortunes of the Fox studio, which lost $85 million in fiscal 1984. One tactic: laying off 300 of the studio's 1,500 employees. Murdoch notes with satisfaction that "Barry has cut a lot of spending, and there's a lot more to cut." Diller is a tough negotiator who gets lower-than-usual prices on everything from production costs to actors' wages...
...spite of his reputation for hovering over his managers' shoulders, Murdoch so far has left Diller at peace. Murdoch spends only a few days each month at the studio, then returns home to his Fifth Avenue triplex in New York City. The mogul says that he and his wife have no plans to buy a house or apartment in Los Angeles. They appear content to stay in the small, secluded Bel-Air Hotel...
While at the studio, Murdoch works in his shirt-sleeves in a modest temporary office whose only personal touch is a photo of his wife. He spends much of his time conferring with bankers and lawyers, and meets daily with Diller, sometimes for lunch in the Fox commissary. Murdoch also occasionally picks up a yellow legal pad and drops in on a creative session in which Diller and his top lieutenants discuss TV and movie ideas. "Rupert is very quiet in these meetings," one participant reports. "He might ask, 'How much does that cost?' or, 'What does that mean?' Sometimes...