The low-key Fox movie executive who shepherded the offbeat Oscar winners "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Juno" was put in line Thursday to become Rupert Murdoch's No. 2, spearheading his News Corp. media empire in Hollywood and on Wall Street.
Peter Rice, a publicity-averse executive at Fox adept at turning quirky films into mainstream commercial hits, was tapped by Murdoch to run the Fox television network.
The appointment thrusts the British-raised Rice, not widely known outside Hollywood's tight-knit independent film community and even something of a lone hand inside News Corp., into one of the most visible positions in Murdoch's entertainment and newspaper conglomerate.
By overseeing the network of "American Idol" and "24" and the operation at the heart of Murdoch's media machine, Rice becomes an odds-on favorite to eventually take the place of Peter Chernin, who is leaving as president and chief operating officer of News Corp. in June.
While Murdoch acts as News Corp.'s grand visionary and public voice, the No. 2's job has been to run the company on a daily basis, tending to relations with temperamental stars, impatient investors and prying lawmakers.
The surprise appointment -- Rice has no experience as a television executive -- demonstrates the urgency with which Murdoch wants to reorganize and reshape Fox's television and movie operations, even before Chernin officially departs.
Rice's background in turning low-cost films, frequently centered around precocious teens in unsettling circumstances, into broad-appeal successes could help the youth-oriented Fox network develop a new generation of shows for the Twitter generation.
"This is probably the most challenging economic environment anybody in the television business has faced in 30 years," said Larry Gerbrandt, principal of Media Valuation Partners. "I think [News Corp. is] looking for fresh approaches and a rethinking, because the way consumers are using the medium is changing rapidly."
Rice, 42, succeeds Peter Liguori, who is stepping down as chairman of entertainment at Fox Broadcasting. Rice will report to Tony Vinciquerra, chairman of Fox Networks Group, who will continue to head the cable networks and the business aspects of Fox broadcasting and gain responsibility for the network's programming.
As part of the reorganization, the co-chairmen of Fox Filmed Entertainment -- Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman -- will oversee film and television production.
