Joe Earley, chief operating officer at Fox Television Group, will step down at the end of the year, the company said Thursday (Oct. 29). 

The well-respected exec has been COO for Fox Television Group since August 2014 and has had oversight of marketing and communications, digital, research, talent relations, scheduling and audience strategy at Fox Broadcasting Co., while partnering with 20th Century Fox Television's development, production, business affairs, marketing and finance leads on strategic initiatives, as well as publicity and talent relations at the studio.

"Joe is one of the most talented executives and gifted leaders we've ever had the pleasure of working with, so we are saddened that he has decided to step down," said Gary Newman and Dana Walden, co-chairs and co-CEOs of Fox Television Group. "We have been discussing his desire to get closer to the creative process for a while now, and although we would love for him to stay at Fox for another 21 years, we understand and fully support his plans to take on new challenges. ... We know we'll be working with him again soon."

Earley was COO of Fox Broadcasting Co. before taking that title to Fox Television Group. Prior to that, he was president of marketing and communications for the Fox network. Previous titles include executive VP of marketing and communications, and executive VP of publicity. He joined Fox 21 years ago as a publicist.

"Because of the entrepreneurial spirit that pervades Fox, and the incredible support of the teams across the network, I have been afforded unbelievable opportunities for growth and new experiences," Earley said.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Santa Clara, Calif.—David Wertheimer, president of digital for Fox Broadcasting, was bullish about the future of digital advertising during a keynote interview Thursday at B&C and Multichannel News’ Next TV Summit.

Asked by B&C contributing editor George Winslow about then-NBC Universal president and CEO Jeff Zucker’s famous 2008 quote about not trading “trading analog dollars for digital pennies,” Wertheimer said that the issue he is concerned most with isn’t how to bring digital advertising up to broadcast levels.

“I like to turn that question on its head,” Wertheimer said. “I like to say, ‘How can we create an environment where the digital advertising’s worth a lot more than the television  advertising?”

He cited as an example a test Fox conducted with interactive digital advertising, in which viewers were given the option of interacting with an ad and being rewarded with a shorter commercial break. “We don’t know all the results yet, but it’s very encouraging.”

Wertheimer also discussed his time working for Steve Jobs at NeXT early in his career.

“One of the things that I learned from Steve Jobs was impatience,” Wertheimer said, joking that it’s not a lesson his current staff is likely glad that he learned. He continued, “The thing that I learned later in my career was to be patient to see the fruit of my impatience take hold.”

He then recalled a conversation he had with former Blockbuster owner Wayne Huizenga in the early ‘90s, saying that he told Huizenga that Blockbuster would go out of business within five years, disrupted by streaming video. Blockbuster would go on to declare bankruptcy—in 2010.

Regarding digital strategy for Fox’s entertainment programming, Wertheimer said, “it’s important to reward people who are paying for content.” Fox therefore makes full seasons of shows available online to customers who can authenticate as a subscriber to a multichannel video programming distributor.

“We make that possible for you,” he said. “Virtually nowhere else can you do that.”

Discussing the future of television, Wertheimer turned to the evolution of the word itself.

“The term television has transcended the medium,” he said, drawing a comparison to the term “hang up,” which used to refer to the physical act placing a telephone receiver on a base to disconnect a call, and now for many people refers to nothing more physical than touching a screen. Television, he said, “means high-quality entertainment, it means longer viewing experience, it means premium content.”