Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410140038
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN CARMODY THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Blackstar Communications Inc. announced last week it has reached an agreement in principle with Fox Television Stations Inc. and Silver King Communications Inc. to organize a new venture, Blackstar LLC, to acquire television stations in the United States that will affiliate with Fox.
John E. Oxendine, chairman, president and CEO of Blackstar, will serve as chairman and CEO of Blackstar LLC. He also serves as president of Broadcast Capital Inc., a nonprofit venture capital company that arranges financing for minorities to acquire radio and television stations.
The NAACP has criticized the ownership of Fox in the past - claiming it's foreign-held - and at last week's announcement, Chase Carey, chairman and CEO of Fox Television, said he ``would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the efforts of David Honig and the NAACP to heighten industry awareness of the need to increase minority ownership opportunities.'' Honig is an attorney who has represented the NAACP.
From the Silver Lining Department: The major changes due next year for ``The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour'' probably mean a major expansion of the program's Washington operation at Channel 26.
Robert MacNeil, the New York anchor of the award-winning PBS program, announced Tuesday that he is retiring sometime in 1995. And WNET in New York, the co-producing station, has already announced it plans to close its production facilities by next June.
Public broadcasting sources said this weekend that co-anchor Jim Lehrer will continue as solo anchor of the program out of Washington when MacNeil departs and that the New York end of the operation-a staff of about 50, not including cameramen and other technicians-will be shut down.
The current Washington staff numbers about 40.
Staff members, including the principals, refused to talk about the announcement on Friday, pending notification of staffers tomorrow following the Columbus Day holiday.
MacNeil, 63, is executive editor of the newscast; Lehrer, 60, is associate editor. Over the years they have created what has become known as ``the most trusted newscast'' in the business, the envy of their ratings-driven peers.
They are co-owners of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions and have been on-air partners since 1975 when ``The Robert MacNeil Report'' aired from New York, with Lehrer reporting from Washington.
The half-hour newscast went national on PBS the next year as ``The MacNeil/Lehrer Report,'' expanding to a full hour in 1983.
Both anchors are prolific writers; MacNeil's ``Wordstruck'' was on 1989 bestseller lists; Lehrer's series of mysteries featuring One-Eyed Mack is six novels long.
A few days ago, CBS quietly let reporters around the country know that there was ``no truth'' to rumors that 57 producers had signed a petition in Hollywood saying Larry Sinitsky was jeopardizing the network's relations with producers.
Sinitsky joined CBS Entertainment last May as executive vice president and created a stir by canceling much of CBS's movie lineup, which accounts for 14 percent of programming. CBS movie success on Sunday and Tuesday nights has been a big part of its ratings leadership the last few years, and it's no accident Fox just hired as its program chief John Matoian, the CBS executive who created the TV movies that got the job done.
But CBS movies under Sinitsky are off to a terrible start this fall, and he's getting the blame. The L.A. Times' John Lippman says it's not just a ``blunt operating style'' that angers producers, it's ``what some contend is bizarre behavior.''
``After International Creative Management agent Nancy Josephson helped deliver actor Don Johnson for a 22-episode series commitment,'' Lippman reported, ``Sinitsky crowned her `The Queen of CBS' and dedicated a poem to her, which was read aloud at a staff meeting.''
by CNB