CASBAA: Fox International given the BBC HARDtalk treatment

HONG KONG - In the liveliest session of the morning, Hernan Lopez (pictured left), president of Fox Networks and COO of Fox International Channels, was placed under the Casbaa spotlight by BBC Word News HARDtalk presenter Stephen Sackur (right).

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CASBAA: Fox International given the BBC HARDtalk treatment

Sackur began the conversation by looking into how the current business climate had impacted Fox. Lopez said the broadcaster has been forced to re-evaluate its value proposition and had undergone a shift to a multiple revenue stream business model. In general, though, Fox had fared well. “We have continued to grow, even in the toughest of times,” he said.

Sackur then pressed Lopez on measures taken to offset the recession, in particular the broadcaster’s recent reorganisation in Asia-Pacific and what he called the “hollowing out” of the Star TV brand.

Lopez answered that running two parallel operations was a duplication of efforts and resources, however, on the subject of the job losses at the Hong Kong office, he said that it was a sad thing to lose even one person. “These were decisions we arrived at after very serious consideration.”

Lopez argued his case that, despite the recession, pay-TV was still a strong proposition and that - despite Sackur’s misgivings - the Fox portfolio of channels was still good enough to attract discretionary ad spend from consumers.

The conversation really heated up, though, once Sackur brought in the question of the negative perceptions that the Fox News Channel may be creating for the Fox brand on the international stage. After several attempts to sidestep the topic, Lopez eventually committed himself, saying that there were no negative connotations that he was aware of.

“People are more driven by whether the show they want to watch is on one of our channels,” said Lopez. “We have built a reputation over time. People won’t stop watching an entertainment channel simply because it is owned by the same company that owns Fox News.”

The question and answer session finished with a discussion about the vulnerability of pay-TV in the long term. Lopez accepted that free content will certainly put pressure on how much pay-TV can charge but argued that as long as broadcasters can justify the premium consumers need to pay, the pay-TV industry will thrive.

“The pay model and the free model will co-exist,” he concluded. “But I have my money on pay.”

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