21st Century Fox, which will become the parent company of Fox News once News Corp. completes its split into two companies, has unveiled a new logo. The logo, left, plays off of the iconic spotlights that were a focal point in the old “20th Century Fox” logo, and adds a more modern font.

“Like our name, the logo reflects the rich creative heritage of Twentieth Century Fox and signals the promise of the 21st century and our restless drive toward the future,” wrote News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch in a note to staff. “Ultimately, our new logo celebrates the powerful commitment of you and your colleagues to the excellence and innovation that will propel 21st Century Fox forward.”

They also produced a video for the logo:

21st Century Fox from 21st Century Fox on Vimeo.

Former Vice President and Current TV co-founder Al Gore gets a pair of profiles today. First Bloomberg takes a shot at estimating his net worth, and comes up with a number around $200 million. The company estimates that he made around $70 million from the Current TV sale to Al Jazeera.

New York magazine talks to Gore, who discusses buying and selling Current, and his surprising relationship with news Crop. CEO Rupert Murdoch.

Murdoch had no interest in Gore’s plan to upend the media paradigm. But Gore’s timing was excellent. “Rupert is a smart guy,” Gore tells me. “This was a great opportunity for him to demonstrate that he was not interested in consolidating his control of DirecTV just to launch an ideological jihad.” As proof, “he could say, ‘Hey, I put Al Gore’s channel on.’ That was something that would work for him. It would certainly work for me.”

“Wait a second, Al,” Murdoch said. “You guys are here because you want to know if you buy NWI whether I’ll kick you off. I can assure you we are not going to do that.”

On the spot, Murdoch agreed to a ten-year extension. Over ten years, it amounted to a “gift” of about $200 million, as DirecTV’s execs later said.

On selling to Al Jazeera:
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Fox News and Fox Business will soon be part of a new company called 21st Century Fox, company chairman Rupert Murdoch announced today.

21st Century Fox will be the new name of the media and entertainment company created by the split of News Corp.: one company that is primarily a publisher, the other made up of TV and film entities. The name is a take on the film studio 20th Century Fox, which Murdoch acquired in 1985.

“21st Century Fox is a name that draws upon the rich creative heritage of our film studio, while also speaking to the innovation and dynamism that define all of our global media and entertainment businesses and will guide us into the future, said Murdoch, who will be Chairman and CEO of 21st Century Fox.

The new company will include FOX, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Sports, Fox Sports Network, FX, FXX, FS1, National Geographic Channels, and the 20th Century Fox film and television production studios as well as Shine Group.

The ratings-grabbing 10-hour miniseries “The Bible” — which averaged 11.3 million viewers for each of its 5 installments last month on the History Channel — could have aired on Fox News Channel. The LATimes’ Joe Flint reports News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch wanted the Mark Burnett eries for one of his channels. After the Fox broadcast network and FX were ruled out, Flint writes:

The surprise solution was Fox News. Although on the surface an entertainment series might seem out of place on a news and talk channel, there was a school of thought that “The Bible” could play well there. Fox News has an older and more conservative audience that was seen as a good fit for “The Bible.” Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes caught Murdoch’s enthusiasm and a plan was hatched to run it there on Sundays

Fox News — or any cable channel — would have loved to have 11 million viewers for 5 successive Sunday nights. If only…

(h/t J$P)

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch sits down with “WSJ Live” to talk about the state of media. Along the way, cable news comes up in the conversation. When asked about Fox News Channel’s ratings dominance compared to its competition, Murdoch said that he was impressed by some of the recent goings-on at CNN.

“I don’t think they are bad, you are seeing big changes going on at CNN now, they have a new head of it [Jeff Zucker], they are popularizing it, if you like,” Murdoch said. “They are using helicopters, running around being much more pop, if you will. I won’t say that they are politically different than what they have always been, but they have sharpened up in the last couple of months.”

WATCH:

(h/t TheBlaze)

Vanity Fair has an excerpt from the upcoming biography of Roger Ailes by Zev Chafets. The excerpt is primarily about Ailes the man, not Ailes the executive, though that isn’t to say there aren’t some interesting TV angles.

The relationship between Ailes and Rupert Murdoch is one of respect, and money:

Ailes and Rupert Murdoch are very respectful of each other. Ailes credits Murdoch with realizing that there was a niche audience (“half the country,” as Charles Krauthammer, a Fox contributor, drily put it) for a cable news network with a conservative perspective. Murdoch, for his part, assured me that he doesn’t dictate editorial decisions. “I defer to Roger,” he said. “I have ideas that Roger can accept or not. As long as things are going well … ”

FBN is building out a large studio space on the ground floor of 47th street and sixth avenue. At the Fox Sports upfront (more on that later), executives indicated that they may take advantage of the studio space too. Regardless of what shows are being produced, they are ready for anything:
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On CNN’s Oscar red carpet special, Piers Morgan has been asking his guests who they’re most excited to see. Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Daniel Day-Lewis would top the list, but when Morgan asked Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence, she only had one man on her mind:  ”I want to see Al Roker. I used to watch him every day before school.”

“Al Roker?,” Morgan shot back. “Of all the people you could possibly see, Al Roker?” “It means something to me personally,” said Lawrence, “Every morning he’s happy.”

Roker is reporting from Hollywood tonight for tomorrow’s “Today” show.

Following the Lawrence interview, Morgan chatted with Dustin Hoffman, who had some nice words about his CNN show: “God bless you for what you’re saying about gun control,” said Hoffman.

A few minutes after that, Morgan grabbed his “former boss” News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch. After chatting about some of the 20th Century Fox-nominated movies, Morgan couldn’t resist asking: “How do you feel about CNN doing so well against Fox at the moment?”

“I think we’re okay, I think we’ll survive,” Murdoch laughed. “I think you probably will,” said Morgan.

It is well-known that before heading stateside, CNN host Piers Morgan made his name across the pond as the editor of London tabloid News of the World. The man that hired him there was an Australian media mogul named Rupert Murdoch.

Morgan was recently in the news due to a White House petition that called for him to be deported as a result of his personal view on gun control. The White House nixed that idea, but Murdoch apparently thinks there should be a new petition:

Let’s have petition to keep Piers Morgan in U.S.We need him, as does CNN.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) January 26, 2013

The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter has the definitive tick-tock on how Current TV managed to become so big ($100 million in annual revenue) and how the sale to Al Jazeera was finalized. The big takeaway: Current co-founder and former Vice President Al Gore used his muscle to get deals done. One of the most important deals, and the one that arguably helped Current the most, came from News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch:

In a meeting in New York, Mr. Gore leaned on Mr. Murdoch for an extended contract with a lucrative per-subscriber fee.

Mr. Gore asserted that DirecTV should carry a “diverse set of news sources.”

The resulting contract guaranteed Current roughly 10 cents per subscriber per month and helped Mr. Gore secure the financing he needed to acquire Newsworld. It also laid the groundwork for similar extensions with smaller distributors.

That’s why Current, despite having one of the puniest audiences of any widely distributed cable channel, was able to post annual revenue of about $100 million.

Actress Jane Fonda is a guest on tomorrow’s edition of “Katie,” and among other things she talks to Katie Couric about her character on the HBO series “The Newsroom.” Fonda plays Leona Lansing, the CEO of Atlantis World Media, the parent company of Atlantis Cable News. Fonda, of course, was once married to Ted Turner, the founder of CNN.

WATCH:

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