News Corp: Rupert Murdoch has not been lobbying for Ten takeover
Rupert Murdoch
News Corp has denied that boss Rupert Murdoch has lobbied the Abbott government for a change to the media ownership rules to allow the company to buy the Ten Network.
The statement from News Corp came after Sydney Morning Herald columnist Elizabeth Knight suggested that Rupert Murdoch had been lobbying legislators. She claimed: “Having been the largest single contributor to the election of Tony Abbott’s Coalition government, Rupert Murdoch is looking for his reward, according to word around the industry.
“The lobbying is said to extend to the Foreign Investment Review Board (or at least its ultimate master, Treasurer Joe Hockey) and media regulator the Australian Communications and Media Authority.”
Sister title Australian Financial Review claimed that Murdoch had raised the issue with media minister Malcolm Turnbull.
News Corp this afternoon issued a statement saying: “Today’s business section in Fairfax papers speculates that News Corp’s executive chairman spoke with Government about the possibility of acquiring the Ten Network. The executive chairman of News Corp has not spoken with the Government, regulators or legislators about the possibility of acquiring the Ten Network.”
News Corp, led by Rupert Murdoch, is Australia’s largest newspaper publisher and owns half of Foxtel.
Ten is chaired by son Lachlan Murdoch who also owns a minority share of the network, which is currently struggling in the ratings. Ten’s boss is Hamish McLennan, who previously worked in the office of Rupert Murdoch.
The claims come amidst continuing speculation that Foxtel and Ten may combine their advertising sales teams.
(Updated November 7 to amend CEO to executive chairman)
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Remember back in 2009 when NewsCorp denied any knowledge of phone hacking…
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There is no way Rupert would ever countenance such activities. I imagine they just read his tweets. And the front pages.
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I know nuthink!
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He’s after Telstra, a future media Company.
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yeah.
course.
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