[ad_1]
Rupert Murdoch Spends a Great Summer
Three times this summer, government regulators had to make important decisions about media ownership. Three times, the decision took place as would have liked Murdoch and his company, 21st Century Fox.
Murdoch is known for regularly speaking with President Donald Trump. And some of Murdoch's biggest stars, Fox News, have been arguably the main supporters of the president over the past year and a half. There is no evidence that one or the other of these things led to the regulators' decisions, or that the decisions made in this way are anything but a coincidence, but the good fortune of Murdoch has got in the way. "Everything seems to be falling into Rupert's path," said Rich Greenfield, a media and technology analyst at BTIG, adding that Fox News also got two interviews with Trump and an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week. "Murdoch helped get the president elected, I think it would be naïve to think that there is no direct correlation."
Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group, a media research firm, noted that "this could be a total coincidence that a number of things have worked in Murdoch's favor," but he is difficult to ignore political connotations.
"It could also be just from the collection of people who occupy these positions (of government regulation) and who do what Trump wants and what Murdoch wants," Wieser said.
Those who say that Murdoch's proximity to the administration has nothing to do with recent regulatory decisions underscore that many of Murdoch's and Trump's fiercest opponents actually support the government's actions. Politicians like Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Richard Blumenthal wanted the government to do what he did. But these things happen to help Murdoch too.
A spokesman for 21st Century Fox declined to comment.
It began in June, when the Department of Justice approved Disney's bid for 21st Century Fox six months after the two companies reached an agreement – a quick turnaround for this type of merger. A year after AT & T announced its bid for Time Warner, the government filed a lawsuit to block the takeover.
Then, last week, the government filed an appeal against the approval by a judge of AT & T's purchase of Time Warner, CNN's parent company. Whether the call is successful or not, the deposit alone has helped Murdoch: This has probably helped Comcast get out of the bidding war for much of 21st Century Fox, paving the way for Disney and its bid $ 71 billion.
A Comcast-Fox combo would probably have faced the same regulatory hurdles as the AT & T-Time Warner merger. This possibility was enough to kill the Comcast and 21st Century Fox case, said Wieser.
"Murdoch wants to sell to Disney," said Wieser. Greenfield said that he did not think the call was the reason why Comcast dropped 21st Century Fox, but said that any chance that a call could lead to Turner, the AT & affiliate T who owns CNN, being sold is a good thing for Murdoch.
"Anything that leads to a weaker Turner, leads to a weaker CNN, because CNN is part of a huge company with huge pockets with huge distribution platforms," Greenfield said. "If Turner is alone, it's in a much weaker long-term position."
And finally this week, the Federal Communications Commission shocked the media world by threatening Fox's conservative rival, Sinclair, and his bid for Tribune Media. FCC President Ajit Pai announced Monday that he had "serious concerns" about the deal. Although Paï has already been accused of easing property rules to help Sinclair, Pai criticized the company this week for selling stations to buyers close to Sinclair in an effort to stay within limits of capital.
Sinclair was considered a possible rival of Fox News because the former accumulates a huge national footprint and snatches talents like former Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn and former CBS correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. According to Politico, Sinclair has even approached Fox's current and former talents like Jeanine Pirro and Eric Bolling. Last month, BuzzFeed reported that Sinclair was preparing to launch a free streaming app called STIRR, a local and national news channel.
Sinclair attempted to amend his Tribune agreement to appease the commission, but the FCC voted Thursday to send the transaction to an administrative law judge, citing the need to investigate "if Sinclair was indulging in a false statement and / or a lack of frankness demands from the Commission. "The deal is now entering into a lengthy hearing process that many media investors see as a knell for the deal.
Sinclair denied deceiving the FCC "in the strongest possible way," a company spokesman said Monday.
If the Sinclair deal with Tribune falls through, it creates "less risk for Fox News from a new competitor and the potential to buy some of the best stations," Greenfield said. "It's great to be a Fox shareholder at the moment, which has been an amazing year for 21st Century Fox on all fronts.
CNNMoney (New York) First published on July 19, 2018: 19:44 ET
[ad_2]
Source link
