George Bodenheimer
Title: Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks; President,
ESPN/ABC Sports
Why Him? Bodenheimer’s bent on maintaining ESPN’s
sports media dominance through a concerted multiplatform push—an effort made tricky by the company’s
breadth and depth. But you know what? It's succeeding. He’s piloting the offense much like the Patriots’ Tom
Brady (who shined on the net’s “MNF”), with laudable
efficiency and a healthy measure of creativity. The adept
and proven component parts certainly ease execution,
but Bodenheimer always exhorts ESPNers and family
franchises to expand, improve and adapt. ESPN’s MVNO
tanked, but now ESPN Mobile TV is well armored and
set to deliver roughly 70 live NBA games to handsets this
season. ESPN.com is at once labyrinthine and navigable,
with more talent, video, pages and podcasts added
almost daily. Steadily growing its distribution, ESPNEWS
is also ready to improve through an HD launch in early
’08 on cable and satellite. And perhaps most important,
few programmers cross-promote linear and Web content better than ESPN. Bodenheimer strives to make the
worldwide leader in sports—even as it changes—the one
competitors continue to chase. CH
The Rupert and
Roger Show 14
Rupert Murdoch
Title: Chairman, News Corp.
Roger Ailes (pictured)
Title: Chairman, Fox News Channel & Fox Business Network
Why Them? This duo is dynamically poised to draw even
more industry attention in ’08. Though they’ve been dominating media waters as exceedingly big fish in a big pond
for years, Murdoch and Ailes recently ascended to greater
ubiquity with a handsomely choreographed two-step: News
Corp.’s acquisition of Dow Jones & Co and the long-await-ed launch of Fox’s business channel. Though Murdoch’s
pricey bid for Dow Jones—and crown jewel The Wall Street
Journal—at first initiated some head-scratching, those in
the know knew it was just business as usual for the mogul.
Though he acknowledged his late-blooming Web optimism
with the MySpace purchase a few years back, Murdoch
thrives on “traditional” media and is primed to influence yet
more public opinion as puppetmaster for one of the world’s
most respected financial publications. Trusted Murdoch
foot soldier Ailes, who rewrote the book on television news
via FNC, finally has his chance to go head-to-head with
former employer CNBC as Fox Business Network gets off
the ground. Armed with a budget that includes a reported
$200mln to staff the new network with big names and distribution in about 30mln homes, Ailes is shaping Fox Business
as a formidable competitor that he hopes will follow in the
footsteps of his already established news empire. This time,
few are betting against him. CAO
