LONDON -- The success of pay box BSkyB, whose majority stockholder is News Corp., has turned Rupert Murdoch into a hate figure for the British establishment -- according to Rupert Murdoch.
"They all hate me because of Sky. It absolutely changed the face of television. And will change it further...
"Sky put the whole of the broadcasting establishment against me, and particularly the BBC.
"They had 240 people in their public affairs department at one stage who did nothing but lobby for legislation against Sky, and were a constant pain.
"And, of course, a lot of those same people are sitting in regulatory positions today, which doesn't make life any easier."
Murdoch, who singled out BSkyB's success as one of his biggest achievements in the U.K., made his comments in a rare and wide-ranging interview with British trade, Press Gazette, in a special issue to celebrate the paper's 40th anniversary.
In the lengthy interview Murdoch spoke extensively about the British press (his British titles include BlightyBlighty's best selling tabloid, the Sun), News Corp's recent new media acquisitions and his family's role in the business.
Rejecting criticism that the recent News Corp. spending spree on internet-based assets, such as website myspace.com smacked of "panic buying", Murdoch claimed it was part of a coherent strategy.
"There's no panic, and there was certainly no overpayment," he said. "It was a very careful strategy to go for the two biggest community sites for people under 30.
"If you take the number of page views in the U.S. we are the third biggest presence on the internet already.
"Not we're not the most profitable, or anything like it; we have a huge amount of work ahead to get that whole thing right. And we're working very hard to keep improving." As for the renewed competition between Sky News and BBC News 24, Murdoch said: "I hadn't heard about the BBC putting News 24 at the heart of its news operation. That's sounds pretty radical. It's not stupid in some ways.
"But remember NBC started MSNBC - made tremendous news about it. And it's not all bad, by any means, but none of the traditional NC news guys, none of the big stars, will be associated with it.
"They look down on it, and it's one of the reasons it's failing. And it's running a very bad third, it just can't get the reaction."
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117933571?categoryid=1043&cs=1&s=h&p=0
"They all hate me because of Sky. It absolutely changed the face of television. And will change it further...
"Sky put the whole of the broadcasting establishment against me, and particularly the BBC.
"They had 240 people in their public affairs department at one stage who did nothing but lobby for legislation against Sky, and were a constant pain.
"And, of course, a lot of those same people are sitting in regulatory positions today, which doesn't make life any easier."
Murdoch, who singled out BSkyB's success as one of his biggest achievements in the U.K., made his comments in a rare and wide-ranging interview with British trade, Press Gazette, in a special issue to celebrate the paper's 40th anniversary.
In the lengthy interview Murdoch spoke extensively about the British press (his British titles include BlightyBlighty's best selling tabloid, the Sun), News Corp's recent new media acquisitions and his family's role in the business.
Rejecting criticism that the recent News Corp. spending spree on internet-based assets, such as website myspace.com smacked of "panic buying", Murdoch claimed it was part of a coherent strategy.
"There's no panic, and there was certainly no overpayment," he said. "It was a very careful strategy to go for the two biggest community sites for people under 30.
"If you take the number of page views in the U.S. we are the third biggest presence on the internet already.
"Not we're not the most profitable, or anything like it; we have a huge amount of work ahead to get that whole thing right. And we're working very hard to keep improving." As for the renewed competition between Sky News and BBC News 24, Murdoch said: "I hadn't heard about the BBC putting News 24 at the heart of its news operation. That's sounds pretty radical. It's not stupid in some ways.
"But remember NBC started MSNBC - made tremendous news about it. And it's not all bad, by any means, but none of the traditional NC news guys, none of the big stars, will be associated with it.
"They look down on it, and it's one of the reasons it's failing. And it's running a very bad third, it just can't get the reaction."
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117933571?categoryid=1043&cs=1&s=h&p=0
