FX
When FOX launched fX, a new live network based across from Madison Square Park in New York City, I was sitting fat and happy at the Network in Chicago, ratings were good, ad budgets were up, and I was hitting all my numbers. I didn’t plan on going anywhere until the sales Manager for the startup FOX Network fX, came to town and offered me a Vice Presidency If I start and run the Chicago office for him. I said yes.
It was Rupert Murdoch’s pet project and he wanted the network to launch with real network commercials, not direct response or Public Service Announcements. I went to my friends at Leo Burnett and started begging and twisting arms and was able to cobble together almost a dozen network clients and sell them a large stake of commercials at rock bottom prices. We launched as the first startup cable network ever to have a national advertising deal in place before it was on the air.
Everyone was happy for a long time, that is until the network started to attract big audiences, and my deal was the lowest on the books and used the most inventory. It became a point of consternation between management and myself and eventually led to me leave the network and head to New York.