Readers: In order to understand the western media, in terms of ownership, power, influence, coverage, ratings etc, I read the "MediaGuardian" on the Internet every day; and needless to say, I always find it informative. While reading it this afternoon, I came across the article below which I am forwarding in the hope that some of you might find it useful. I recommend that this useful web page to you: www.mediaguardian.co.uk Ebrima Ceesay ___________________________________________________________________ FROM SEATTLE TO STAINES, MURDOCH RULES THE WORLD DirecTV deal confirms Rupert Murdoch as the most powerful man in television, reaching more than 110 million viewers across four continents By Owen Gibson Thursday April 10, 2003 Murdoch: only Africa remains untouched by my TV dynasty With the purchase of America's DirecTV network, Rupert Murdoch has been confirmed as TV's most powerful man in the world with the capacity to reach more than 110 million viewers across four continents. With a satellite network stretching from Saigon to Seattle via Staines and Sydney, News Corp is in the unique position of owning both of the major pay-TV broadcasters as well as some of the top TV channels and production outfits across the globe. Only Africa remains untouched by the Murdoch TV dynasty. Mr Murdoch even reaches countries like Vietnam and the tiny Pacific island of Guam where he can count 65,000 subscribers in hotels and in the US military base to his Star TV Asia service. Its broadcasting empire now stretches across the US, the UK, Italy and much of Asia, China, Latin America and Australia. It seems hard to credit that 18 months ago City analysts and industry commentators were asking whether we were witnessing the end of the age of the media mogul. With Leo Kirch, Jean-Marie Messier and Thomas Middelhoff - all men in the Murdoch mould - falling on their swords, many outside News Corp were wondering whether the original mogul was running out of steam as he entered his eighth decade. With News Corp profits suffering as a result of the downturn hitting all media giants and his old foe Charlie Ergen having trumped him in the race for DirecTV, America's largest satellite broadcaster, Murdoch's star seemed to be in the descendent. But you write Mr Murdoch off at your peril and the deals of the last two weeks alone, with EC regulators allowing him to buy Telepiu in Italy and Fox sealing the DirecTV deal in the States, show that there's plenty of life in the old dog yet. After three years, the 72-year-old has proved he still has what it takes to pull off a sensational deal that escaped through his fingers twice before. His long-cherished Sky Global dream of owning a satellite distribution network that spanned the world, which originally collapsed two and a half years ago amid tumbling stock prices and regulatory concerns, looks to be very much back on. Apart from perhaps Ted Turner in pre-AOL Time Warner days, no other personality has so forcefully stamped his personality on a media company in the way Mr Murdoch has. With DirecTV, Mr Murdoch refused to give up his tenacious pursuit of the quarry even after Echostar chief Mr Ergen looked to have snatched the prize from his grasp in October 2001. The eventual collapse of that deal was due in no small part to News Corp's relentless lobbying of competition authorities in the US, who eventually ruled that Echostar should not be allowed to buy its only rival. Analysts are now predicting that the hardball approach that allowed BSkyB see off its pay-TV competitors in the UK will be transported wholesale to the US. As such, they expect News Corp to walk a regulatory tight rope in juggling the prices it charges other cable platforms for its Fox News, Fox Sports and Fox Family channels while also looking to undercut them through its own DirecTV package prices. Similarly, he will take on the cable companies by introducing innovations such as interactive programming and set-top boxes capable of recording onto their hard drive. The importance of the DirecTV deal to Fox's position in the US market cannot be overestimated. No longer will Mr Murdoch have to go cap in hand to his cable rivals to persuade them to take his networks but will have negotiating leverage of his own. News Corp's position is not unique. AOL Time Warner also owns film studios and cable networks but, wary of regulators and with uncertainty over the chain of command, the businesses operate at arm's length. Mr Murdoch, on the other hand, won't be afraid to play off one part of the business against another if he thinks there are gains to be made. News Corp declares it will comply with open access rules, pledging to offer any of Fox's programming to other pay-TV operators at the same price, but as we've seen in the UK this doesn't necessarily mean that it won't leverage pricing to the benefit of its own platform. As one analyst told the New York Times today: "He can say, you do this - it may be to the detriment of one piece of News Corp, but you do it because it is a greater good for the other piece of News Corp." Perhaps more than any other single deal he's agreed over the past few years, the DirecTV deal represents a personal triumph for Mr Murdoch, particularly after the humiliation of seeing it so publicly snatched from his grasp 18 months ago. The US cable giants such as Comcast were bullish yesterday about the appearance of News Corp's heavy artillery on their pay-TV lawn, pointing out their higher subscriber levels and superior technology. But they'd do well to glance through the last few years of pay-TV history on this side of the Atlantic, which is littered with the burned-out shells of those companies who have taken on Mr Murdoch and lost. _________________________________________________________________ On the move? Get Hotmail on your mobile phone http://www.msn.co.uk/mobile ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~