The Fourth Network: How Fox Broke the Rules and Reinvented Television

Rating:
Summary: Excellent business book and a good read too
Review: What a great book this is! It's a good read and successfully balances business concepts and strategies, with lively descriptions of the personalities involved. Kimmel quotes many of the participants in this venture and provides a fast pace that entertains and educates at the same time. For the business school student or anyone with an interest in business, this makes an excellent case study. It should be required reading, especially for those who know odds are against creating a new thing in established territory. The people at Fox were smart, creative and gutsy; they defied the odds, gamed the system and won. And the author, Daniel Kimmel, really conveys the fast pace and atmosphere in which the Fox team must have operated. I am not an industry insider, so I feel like I really learned a lot about how networks are run, what the regulatory environment is like and the culture that developed at Fox. Great book. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: How a risky launch turned into a billion-dollar creation
Review: When Garth Ancier left NBC for the new start-up FOX network, he was told he was making a terrible mistake; but twenty years later FOX has become one of the 'big four' of TV networks. Boston TV critic and newspaper commentator Daniel M. Kimmel is in the perfect position to present the story of FOX's rise to power, what with his background as a TV and film critic and his law degree and film teacher experience. Chapters are lively as The Fourth Network explains how a risky launch turned into a billion-dollar creation.