Executive Dossier
“Our aim is clear: creating content and news and distributing it as far and wide as we can” : Peter Chernin News Corp COO
52-year old Peter Chernin does not come across like your typical media CEO. No flamboyance, no arrogance, no showing off. Just a regular business guy. The bespectacled chief operating officer of News Corp and Rupert Murdoch’s No 2 looks more like a number cruncher or an economist. An affable one too. Which he is.
He is behind such mega blockbusters as Speed, Titanic and Independence Day, which he steered when at the Fox film studio in the early nineties. Impressed with his ability, Murdoch gave him the responsibility of running the Fox Entertainment Group (80 per cent owned by News Corp) in 1998. Which he has done fabulously well with his charge accounting for 75 per cent of News Corp’s overall operating earnings.
He is seen to be the perfect foil to the septuagenarian Murdoch. And also a tough negotiator as Disney found out when Michael Eisner bought the Family Channel from News for $5.2 billion, a billion more than he should have paid.
Chernin is also pretty well-informed about News Corp’s Asian and Indian operations in particular. In fact he reeled off details, which shows why News Corp remains one of the most solid media companies in the world today.
Indiantelevision.com’s Anil Wanvari caught up with Chernin in Cannes’ Carlton Hotel during Mipcom. Chernin was awarded the Personality of the Year award by the Reed Midem. Excerpts from the interview:
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What are your views about your pet initiative – the battle against piracy? And would you reinvest the savings in the business if piracy was reduced ? From the consumer perspective if consumers don’t cut down on piracy, they will not have movies to watch. It is crucial they look at it from that aspect. |
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What are the expansion plans for News Corp? Would you buy a broadcaster in the UK now that laws are proposed to be changed to allow foreigners to own networks there? As far as Sky Italia goes, it is very early days as yet. We launched only on 31 July there. The response has been very positive. The conversion has been very good: about 50,000 boxes a week. We also discovered that there was a lot of piracy when it was run by Telepiu. Almost 50 per cent of our new subscribers have boxes. But now that has been stemmed. There have been no cases of breaking in of our smart cards since we started. Our aim is clear: creating content and news and distributing it as far and wide as we can. With the Direct TV approval also to come, we have got a lot on our plate today. We want to focus on the businesses we have. In Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Star TV India has a huge profit potential. In China, we are beginning to do well. We have moved into the middle east. |
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What about your plans to move into DTH in India? The group tried once in 1997, but it failed singularly then? |
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Hasn’t Zee TV beaten you to the launch of DTH in India? |
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What do you have to say about James Murdoch’s candidature to head BSkyB? We will not put in an inferior candidate into place into what has been built into a huge business. There is a fair bit of noise being made about James. It think it is ironic. The media should quieten down. He is a very experienced executive. A professional. He has built up India into the fastest growing business we see. Let him come in. The people in the UK will love him. I am sure the BSkyB guys in London must be talking to their colleagues in Star Hong Kong to find out whether he is a good guy or a jerk. And the verdict is going to turn out to be very positive. At the end of the day we need a good guy for the job. Which he is. End of part one…. |
MUMBAI: Game faces on, pressure high India’s gaming ambitions are levelling up. Good Game, billed as the world’s first as-live global gaming reality show, has officially launched in India with a bold mission: to crown the country’s first Global Gaming Superstar.
Blending esports with mainstream entertainment, the show brings together competitive gaming, creativity and on-camera performance in a format that tests more than just joystick skills. Contestants will be judged on gameplay, screen presence and their ability to perform under pressure, reflecting how gaming has evolved from pastime to profession and pop culture currency.
Fronting the show are three high-profile ambassadors: actor and entrepreneur Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian cricket star Rishabh Pant, and gaming creator Ujjwal Chaurasia. The winner will take home Rs 1 crore ($100,000) among the largest prize pools for any Indian reality show along with the chance to represent India on a global stage.
Backed by a planned annual investment of up to Rs 100 crore, Good Game is also courting brand partners, promising a minimum reach of 500 million among India’s core youth audience. The creators position the show as a bridge between entertainment and interactive culture, offering long-format content, community engagement and commercial scale.
Auditions are now open to Indian citizens aged 18 and above, inviting amateur and professional gamers, creators and performers alike. Shortlisted candidates will be called for in-person auditions in Mumbai on 14 and 15 February, and in Delhi on 28 February and 1 March 2026.
With big money, big names and even bigger ambition, Good Game signals a shift in how India views gaming not just as play, but as performance, profession and prime-time spectacle.
