Regency Television is a joint-venture between Regency Enterprises and Fox Television Studios founded in 1998. Regency's best-known TV shows include The WB sci-fi drama Roswell and the Fox sitcoms Malcolm in the Middle and The Bernie Mac Show.
On July 17, 2007, Regency Television shut down all production and closed its business after nearly ten years in operation. On January 17, 2011, New Regency announced a return to the television business after 20th Century Fox extended its distribution business with Regency until 2022.
Although Regency Television did not last long, the venture is not dead and gone. The company disbanded one month after the Robin Schwartz, head of Regency Television, left to become president of the Oprah Winfrey Network. Regency Enterprises and Fox Television Studios have since started the company up again, under the name New Regency. Some of New Regency’s most recent film projects include Love and Other Drugs; Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son; What’s Your Number?; Monte Carlo; and Darkest Hour. News Corp, father company of Fox Television Studios, intends to shift its focus from foreign to domestic markets. Rupert Murdoch, owner and CEO of News Corp, used his entrepreneurial skills to conquer foreign markets and is now choosing to restart a failed project. His company dominated in both the UK as well as Italy, absorbing smaller companies and becoming almost monopolistic. A large part of the reason why Murdoch was able to do what he did with his company in the UK was because of his strong political ties. As successful as Murdoch has been in the business world, he has not been quite so lucky in the eyes of the media. Murdoch and his son, James Murdoch, were accused of tapping the phone lines of celebrities, politicians, and other highbrow individuals, causing a media outrage. His trial was of particular interest to the public, especially due to the alleged accomplice Rebekah Brooks. Brooks was painted as a sinister vixen, aiding in Murdoch’s crooked ways. She became chief executive of News International after working as the editor of News of the World, but more importantly, she was a personal friend and confidant of Murdoch and his family. Much of his company’s ventures were overshadowed by the scandal. Murdoch faced the predicament of shares losing their value and shareholders losing their faith. At the same time, James Murdoch’s fate was also uncertain. It had always been assumed that he would continue the family business when the time came, but the controversy could have potentially taken that away from him. However, the press generated in the wake of his trial was not necessarily a bad thing. His name became more widely known and anyone who did not previously know his name or his company’s name now had at least a general idea. Now, doing a Google search of Rupert Murdoch will result in pages of media coverage of the scandal as well a large amount of cartoons depicting the scenario in a variety of humorous ways. It is apparent that the scandal did not completely tarnish Murdoch and his work as New Regency has renewed its contract to last through 2022.
Famous quotes containing the word television:
“Television ... helps blur the distinction between framed and unframed reality. Whereas going to the movies necessarily entails leaving one’s ordinary surroundings, soap operas are in fact spatially inseparable from the rest of one’s life. In homes where television is on most of the time, they are also temporally integrated into one’s “real” life and, unlike the experience of going out in the evening to see a show, may not even interrupt its regular flow.”
—Eviatar Zerubavel, U.S. sociologist, educator. The Fine Line: Making Distinctions in Everyday Life, ch. 5, University of Chicago Press (1991)