Murdochsism....

This week BSkyB, the UK satellite television provider, that is now transforming itself into a media conglomerate, reported an increase of 90,000 subscribers to its services. Having broadened its service offering to Broadband and Internet Service Provider (ISP) as well as fixed line telephony the company seems set to take advantage of the next round of media industry strategic consolidation. But the UK TV market is somewhat distorted because of the dominance of the BBC a public service provider funded through annual TV licence fees, but increasingly operates as a commercial enterprise. In a few years the UK will be switching from analogue signal and going embracing digital. Ultimately the industry seems to be moving towards a duopoly pitting the BBC against BskyB. Other players in the industry including Virgin Media the cable TV provider, and BskyB's closest rival will struggle to corner their market.

New potential bidders are emerging for the Dow Jones, parent company of the Wall Street Journal, as they attempt to foil the inevitable takeover by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The interest from these potential bidders seems to stem from a fear of Rupert Murdoch's reputated track record in the media industry, and questions over editorial judgement. I really don't care much about that to be honest. The fact of the matter is that from a business point of view, his offer to the Bancroft family, the majority shareholders of the Dow Jones, is the only plausible one. I was miffed by the prospect of Pearson group (parent company of the Financial Times) and General Electric putting together a joint bid. Safe for the fact that it would be the FT getting rid of a rival or getting a stronger footing in the USA market, the FT and WSJ do not share transferable competences. Matter of fact, the deal would only have made sense if one of the brands folded and merged into the other and resulted in The Wall Street Financial Times Journal or The Financial Times Wall Street Journal.

Mmmhhhh