The New York Times looks at Rupe’s move to divest his media conglomerate from its satellite TV holdings.
For two decades, Rupert Murdoch worked to become king of the cosmos, launching a ring of satellites that hover over five continents. He wanted to make sure he could beam his movies, networks and sports programming directly to viewers without being beholden to cable television operators.
But Mr. Murdoch has apparently decided that 22,240 miles — the altitude of a communications satellite — is too great a distance from his customers, at least in the United States. Mr. Murdoch, who controls the News Corporation, has been discussing trading his shares in DirectTV to John C. Malone’s company, Liberty Media, in return for Liberty’s stock in Mr. Murdoch’s company.
The article goes on to explain how competitive cable has become, since the industry’s move to the digital platform, where bundles of phone, TV and high speed internet are proving increasingly popular with consumers.