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Fox to air scripted shows after Disney sale

Posted at 3:09 PM, Jan 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-04 15:09:48-05

(AP) – The Fox broadcasting network, home to “The Simpsons” and “The Orville,” will continue to carry scripted entertainment after the Fox TV studio’s sale to Disney.

Fox Television Group CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman says the announced sale that will split up Fox and the 20th Century Fox studio won’t turn Fox into a platform solely for sports and other live programming.

Speculation arose after Fox founder Rupert Murdoch talked about so-called “New Fox” as an entity for news and sports that the Fox network would drop scripted programming.

But he was referring to the entity and not specifically the broadcast network, the executives told a TV critics’ meeting Thursday.

Last month, Disney said it was buying a large part of the Murdoch family’s 21st Century Fox for about $52.4 billion in stock, including its film and TV studios and cable and international TV businesses. The deal doesn’t include the Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network.

Newman says he believes the deal will pass regulatory muster in fairly quick fashion and that it will be business as usual for the next 12 to 18 months as the process plays out.