“The Murdochs: Empire of Influence,” an original series detailing the world’s most powerful media family and their complicated history, will air on CNN this fall. The original series will debut with a two-episode premiere Sunday, Sept. 25.
Based on Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg’s New York Times Magazine article “How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World,” the CNN series explores the legacy of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the dynasty he built. It will feature exclusive reporting from The New York Times, interviews with people who worked inside the Murdoch companies and decades of archival footage.
The seven-part series will go “behind the scenes of the improbable rise of a media tycoon, his outsized influence around the globe and the intense succession battle between his children over who will inherit his throne,” per CNN. “The Murdochs: Empire of Influence” charts the “high-stakes deal making, political maneuvering, and dynastic betrayals – and how the ambitions of one family birthed one of the largest media empires in history.”
The Murdochs control an array of media assets including cable channel Fox News, The New York Post, The Times of London and The Wall Street Journal. The company sold the majority of its entertainment assets such as movie studio 20th Century and basic cable networks FX and National Geographic to Disney in 2019 for $71.3 billion.
Executive producers of the series include Ken Druckerman, Banks Tarver and Erica Sashin for Left/Right; Sam Dolnick and Kathleen Lingo for The New York Times; and Amy Entelis, Lyle Gamm and Jon Adler for CNN Original Series. Journalists Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg of The New York Times serve as consulting producers for the series.
The CNN Original Series group develops non-scripted programming for television via commissioned projects, acquisitions and in-house production. Lyle Gamm, senior vice president of current programming, supervises production of all CNN Original Series.
“The Murdochs: Empire of Influence” will regularly air on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CNN.
