New Sony boss points to future in TV
As the studio’s film division struggles, television production emerges as key income earner
Hollywood
has a new mogul. Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc, bedeviled in recent years by movie misfires, a devastating cyberattack and executive ejections, on Thursday named Tony Vinciquerra its chairman and chief executive.
Vinciquerra, 62, who has a long TV track record but little moviemaking expertise, succeeds Michael Lynton, who is stepping down to focus on his board role at Snap Inc, the parent company of Snapchat.
Kazuo Hirai, president and chief executive of Sony Corp, based in Tokyo, made the decision to hire Vinciquerra after pondering people like Peter Rice, chairman of Fox Networks Group, and Andy Bird, chairman of Walt Disney International.
While the Japanese have at times been seen as absentee landlords at Sony Pictures, Hirai has in recent months worked from the Sony lot, home to the Spider-Man movies, sitcoms like Kevin Can Wait and gameshow chestnuts like Jeopardy.
Hirai and Vinciquerra declined interview requests. In a statement, Hirai said, “Tony is a proven, results-oriented leader,” and noted that he “has expertise in managing digital disruption.”
Aside from giving agents and producers a new ring to kiss, the arrival of Vinciquerra — an understated, disciplined executive with blue-collar roots — sends several messages about Sony’s future.
For starters, it is about television. The studio’s film division has struggled badly, recently prompting a $1 billion write-down, but television production — all but abandoned by Sony 16 years ago — has emerged as an engine.
With hits like The Crown, Better Call Saul and The Goldbergs in its stable, Sony Pictures Television contributed more than 90% of the entertainment company’s overall income last year. Sony also operates a vast array of fast-growing overseas cable networks.
Vinciquerra, who formerly ran Fox Networks Group and Hearst-Argyle Television, will be charged with expanding Sony’s small-screen business and steering it through a time of tectonic change. Many consumers are eschewing traditional distribution in favour of streaming services and viewing on mobile devices.
Sony is the only major television studio without direct access to a broadcast network or big cable channel in the United States. That is an increasing hindrance, as the likes of ABC, CBS, the CW, Fox and NBC buy more of their programming from in-house studios.
To improve its access to distribution, Sony could make an acquisition or strategic alliance — Lions Gate Entertainment, which owns Starz, has been seen as one target — or become more tightly linked with PlayStation Vue, which is operated at arms-length from Sony’s entertainment businesses.
Vinciquerra has extensive deal-making experience. In recent years, he has served as a senior adviser to TPG Capital, which has invested in Hollywood firms like Creative Artists Agency and STX Entertainment. He serves on the boards of Univision and Pandora Internet Radio.
For Sony’s movie division, which has struggled because of a lack of global blockbusters, Vinciquerra represents good news — at least for Thomas Rothman, who took over as film chairman two years ago.
Rothman has a temperament that can rub some people the wrong way. But Vinciquerra respects and understands Rothman: The two men worked together at Fox.
Even so, Sony’s motion picture group (Columbia Pictures, TriStar, Screen Gems, Affirm Films) has a make-or-break stretch ahead at the box office.
Rothman’s coming line-up includes bets like Spider-Man: Homecoming, Blade Runner 2049 and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Sony is also vying to renew its contract with Eon Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to distribute the James Bond films.
Vinciquerra — a protégé of Peter Chernin, a longtime media kingpin — is known as a hands-on operator, which would be a shift from Lynton, who was sometimes seen as giving lieutenants a wide berth.
Lynton, who was involved in the hiring of Vinciquerra, also had broader duties, including overseeing Sony Music. Rob Stringer, the chief executive of Sony Music, will eventually report directly to Hirai.
Amid Hollywood’s runaway egos, Vinciquerra has an understated, somewhat rumpled style that makes him stand out. He grew up in a two-bedroom apartment in Albany, sleeping on a foldout sofa and sweeping up hair in his grandfather’s barber shop, according to a 2009 profile in The Los Angeles Times. He graduated from the State University of New York at Albany.
Early in his media career, Vinciquerra sold advertising for radio and TV stations. In 1997, he joined Hearst-Argyle to help build a TV station group; when he arrived, the company owned five stations, and when he left for Fox in 2001, it had about 30.