The Newsroom

News International and BSkyB

The future. (July 2011)

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LM
Lee M
JAS84 posted:
Brekkie posted:
If anything I think this might work to News Internationals advantage. If they're willing to shut down the News of the World they might be just as willing to get rid of The Sun and The Times to get their hands on Sky, removing a major barrier and allowing them to keep Sky News. Plus the BSkyB share price dropping works in their favour too.
Who would buy them? I'm sure Mirror Group, Express Group, and Associated Newspapers would love to see the removal of a major rival. But none of them would buy both the Sun and the Times, as it would mean competing with themselves (the Mirror already has the Sunday Mirror and The People, and the People suffers for it - wouldn't surprise me if it's the next paper to fall - Express Group owns the Star as well as the Express, and Associated owns the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday). They'd all rather that their readers moved to the titles they already own.


If Murdoch were forced to choose between some/all of the News International papers and BSkyB, he would choose BSkyB. It generates massive profits, whereas only The Sun and (until now) the News of the World papers were in profit, and some of their profits were used to subsidise The Times and the Sunday Times which are loss making.

They could almost certainly find a buyer for The Sun with ease, but The Times and the Sunday Times are another matter. As they do not generate profit, it will be extremely interesting to see if there is anyone or any company out there that has the ability to subsidise those papers at a loss like News International has been able to thanks to the profits of The Sun/News of the World. Unlikely, and in that case, if the Competition Commission doesn't let them keep the News International papers to get BSkyB, even if there are no buyers for some or all of them, there is a good chance it will result in the closure of both The Times and the Sunday Times.
SE
Square Eyes Founding member
Lee M posted:


They could almost certainly find a buyer for The Sun with ease, but The Times and the Sunday Times are another matter. As they do not generate profit, it will be extremely interesting to see if there is anyone or any company out there that has the ability to subsidise those papers at a loss like News International has been able to thanks to the profits of The Sun/News of the World. Unlikely, and in that case, if the Competition Commission doesn't let them keep the News International papers to get BSkyB, even if there are no buyers for some or all of them, there is a good chance it will result in the closure of both The Times and the Sunday Times.


Or it could go through with the closure of Sky News ?

Mr Desmond owns newspapers and a TV channel.
GI
ginnyfan
Anyone saw this? Shocked


Quote:
Adam Boulton speculates on Sky News that Sky News itself could be shut down by Murdoch to get BSkyB ruling through.


http://twitter.com/#!/sunny_hundal/status/90466887481311232
TH
Thomas
I saw that on Sky News at Five - Anna Botting then asked the Michael White of the Guardian if his newspaper's actions could not only lead to the closure the NOTW, but also Sky News. He seemed a bit surprised to be asked that.
In recent days it's become quite obvious that Adam Boulton is very against the BskyB deal, he's been quite good at linking the NOTW/BskyB deal to the future of Sky News.

But yes - that tweet pretty much sums up what he said. The fact that two senior Sky News presenters are openly discussing the future of their news channel tells me that they're pretty concerned about the prospects for the channel now.
MA
Markymark
Thomas posted:
I saw that on Sky News at Five - Anna Botting then asked the Michael White of the Guardian if his newspaper's actions could not only lead to the closure the NOTW, but also Sky News. He seemed a bit surprised to be asked that.
In recent days it's become quite obvious that Adam Boulton is very against the BskyB deal, he's been quite good at linking the NOTW/BskyB deal to the future of Sky News.

But yes - that tweet pretty much sums up what he said. The fact that two senior Sky News presenters are openly discussing the future of their news channel tells me that they're pretty concerned about the prospects for the channel now.


Well yes, Sky News is a loss making service, in fact I'm surprised it's lasted as long as it has.
It's got a tabloid agenda, the obsession in recent years with 'sexing up' events to hysteria such as Raoul Moat and Madeleine McCann have done it no favours. There have been elements of its recent coverage regarding the Arab uprisings that have been good and worthwhile, but it's hardly a must see for movers and shakers. At best it's a 'loose canon' service.

Who'd actually take it on if Murdoch wanted to dispose of it, if it can't make a profit within BSkyB, how could it outside ?
IS
Inspector Sands
Closing Sky News would be bad for media plurality too of course and would leave a huge gap in the media landscape. Remember their operation is a lot more than just a single TV station. A week ago I'd say it was very very unlikely but after the NotW it doesn't seem that far-fetched.

Sky News is a very successful and well thought of operation, it's just not financially successful. Someone with deep pockets might be interested in it
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 11 July 2011 7:43pm
DV
DVB Cornwall
News Corp's propblems now in the courts in the US ....

NEW YORK — A group of News Corp. shareholders have sued the company over a phone-hacking scandal at its now-closed News of the World tabloid in London.

The lawsuit accuses News Corp. of large-scale governance failures. It was filed late Friday in Delaware Chancery Court by shareholders led by Amalgamated Bank. Several municipal and union pension funds joined in the lawsuit. The shareholders own less than 1 percent of News Corp.’s stock combined.

more ……..

WWW.WASHINGTONPOST.COM/BUSINESS
11-Jul-2011 @ 19:34
IS
Inspector Sands
Markymark posted:
Well yes, Sky News is a loss making service, in fact I'm surprised it's lasted as long as it has.

It's a loss-leader, it's value is more than money. If it was worthless there wouldn't have been all this fuss over the BSkyB takeover

Quote:
Who'd actually take it on if Murdoch wanted to dispose of it, if it can't make a profit within BSkyB, how could it outside ?

Very few news channels make money, but it doesn't stop them opening!

Going into wild speculation mode - the Qatari's are flashing their money around, Al Jazeera UK might be a possibility... though Rupert would never sell to them
IS
Inspector Sands
News Corporation have withdrawn bid for BSkyB.
Quote:
News Corporation ("News Corp") announces that it no longer intends to make an offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC ("BSkyB") not already owned by it.

Chase Carey, Deputy Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer, News Corporation, commented: "We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate. News Corporation remains a committed long-term shareholder in BSkyB. We are proud of the success it has achieved and our contribution to it."


They could of course rebid in the future but that is unlikely to happen before the hacking investigation finishes and the storm clears.... and that could takes years



News Corp share price: http://twitpic.com/5pio7m
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 13 July 2011 2:37pm
JW
JamesWorldNews
This has really set the cat amongst the pigeons, hasn't it? One wonders what will be next for the BSkyB takeover, in any capacity?

Not close to a tv at the moment - how did the channels handle the breaking story?
BR
Brekkie
They may have withdrawn the bid to own 100%, but I wouldn't be surprised if they sneak up to over 50%.
IS
Inspector Sands
BBC WORLD posted:
This has really set the cat amongst the pigeons, hasn't it? One wonders what will be next for the BSkyB takeover, in any capacity?

Well in the takeover is dead for now, but who knows what will happen in the future. It's still in News Corp's interest to own the whole thing - papers are dying and Sky is growing and generating big profits. However Will Rupert be in charge of it much longer, will News Corp be forced to get out of Sky entirely?


Incidently an interesting domain name was registered yesterday: http://www.foxnewsuk.com/ the page source is particularly worth looking at Laughing

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