Ailes Allies With Murdoch

NEW YORK: Rupert Murdoch outlined Tuesday his plans for a new 24-hour television news channel run by Roger Ailes. Murdoch, the former Australian publishing magnate who launched the Fox television network and has a sizeable television presence in Europe, and partner MCI are fresh from winning an FCC bidding war for direct broadcast satellite television rights in the U.S. Ailes, the former media consultant to Presidents Nixon, Reagan and Bush, resigned last week as president of NBC's successful cable network. "It's a logical place for Ailes to be," says TIME's Richard Zoglin, "especially if Murdoch is serious about creating what he says is a more conservative alternative to CNN. But a lot of this is all very hazy still. The three networks are talking about doing all-news and none of their plans is solid. Murdoch has the tougher job because he doesn't have, as the other networks do, a national news operation up and running to build on." But Ailes, who appeared Tuesday at a joint press conference with Murdoch, spun forward: "When everybody says you can't do it, you get up the next day and find that Rupert Murdoch has done it."