News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch's long game has paid off
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has won control of satellite network DirecTV, securing its long-sought foothold in the US satellite TV market.
The satellite firm is currently controlled by General Motors via its Hughes Electronics subsidiary, which has been on the market for two years.
News Corp will pay about $6.6bn - $3.1bn in cash and the rest in shares - for GM's 19.9% stake in Hughes, and plans to buy up another 14.1% from other shareholders.
Once the deal is complete, News Corp said, Hughes will become part of Fox Entertainment, the entertainment conglomerate of which News Corp has majority control.
News Corp investors were not immediately impressed, as widespread selling pushed the company's shares down 7.5% on fears that the company is overpaying.
But the deal marks the culmination of two decades of attempts by Mr Murdoch to move into satellite TV in the US, complementing his terrestrial Fox network.
On and off
News Corp has remained a suitor for DirecTV throughout the lengthy, bumpy history of GM's attempts to find a buyer.
Originally EchoStar, a competing satellite TV service, thought it had the deal sewn up.
But US regulators demanded massive concessions on competition grounds, forcing EchoStar to pull out.
Other names were floated including SBC Communications, the phone giant that dominates telecoms in the western US, but News Corp stayed in the picture to win at the finish.
Closely watched
Mr Murdoch may not escape regulatory scrutiny himself, though.
The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department may seek assurances that by making DirecTV part of Fox, News Corp is not intending to shut its competitors - not least EchoStar - out of crucial programming.
In the UK, some cable channels have alleged that BSkyB, Mr Murdoch's UK satellite network and the pioneer of his global satellite operations, has used its dominant position to charge dearly for its programming.
But Mr Murdoch promised that would not happen.
"Both News Corp. and DirecTV are committed to be bound by the FCC program access regulations under which we will make our content readily available to all satellite television providers as well as cable and other competing platforms," he said.
