Rupert Murdoch bids for major expansion in Australian pay-TV market
Source: Guardian
In a week of big changes to the Australian media landscape, Rupert Murdoch's News Limited has made a bid to double its stake in the country's only pay-TV network, Foxtel, and its only subscription sports network, Fox Sports.
If successful, the A$2bn (£1.2bn) bid to acquire Consolidated Media Holdings (CMH) would boost News Limited's share in Foxtel to 50% and Fox Sports to 100%. CMH currently owns a quarter of Foxtel and half of Fox Sports.
News Limited has made a huge amount of money out of pay-TV over the years," said journalism Professor Matthew Ricketson from Canberra University. "It's been a key plank of Rupert Murdoch's global news empire and it makes sense that he would want to expand it here too."
But Ricketson warned that the bid would further reduce media competition within Australia: "News Limited already has a stranglehold on subscription TV. This would mean a monopoly on pay-TV, in addition to their substantial newspaper interests."
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/20/rupert-murdoch-bid-expansion-australian-pay-tv
