Sky's the limit

摘要

The long-awaited NewsCorp/GM merger will see the latter acquire 34 per cent of Hughes Electronics, which includes DirecTV, DirecTV in Latin Ameri-ca, Hughes Network Systems and 81 per cent of satellite operator PanAmSat. This means that Murdoch's ever-expanding empire will add a US direct-to-home satellite provider, a satellite receiving-equipment company, and the controlling interest in a satellite operator with 24 satellites that cover six continents. For those who have tracked News Corp's valiant attempts to offer direct broadcasts via satellite in the States, this final chapter had an air of a done deal once the US Federal Communica tions Commission (FCC) rejected a proposed merger between Hughes and its rival satellite platform operator, EchoStar Communications Corp last October. EchoStar had trumped News Corp in an eleventh hour bid for Hughes back in 2001, putting a spanner in the works of Murdoch's US dream. This time round, the final contender in the battle for the satellite operation ― US telco SBC Communications ―withdrew from the field a week before the merger announcement came from General Motors and News Corp on April 9. The transaction is expected to dose by the end of the first quarter in 2004, and could reap significant financial rewards for News Corp almost immediately, given that Hughes earned over US$100 million in net income during the fourth quarter of 2002. DirecTV currently has 11 million subscribers, and Murdoch says News Corp is confident in its ability to grow the asset quickly. Murdoch will become chairman of Hughes, while News Corp's former co-chief operating officer Chase Carey will be president and chief executive officer of Hughes.