Word: murdochized
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...wake of Murdoch's latest move, some media analysts warn of a potential conflict-of-interest problem: TV Guide, after all, will be reviewing Fox Television shows. "TV Guide is the dominant medium for program promotion," argues Andrew Jay Schwartzman, executive director of the Media Access Project, a Washington-based public-interest law firm. "The potential for abuse is considerable...
...Most experts, however, argue that Murdoch is far too astute a businessman to tamper with TV Guide's winning formula. The moment competing networks suspected that they were not getting equal treatment in TV Guide, they would almost certainly pull their advertising. If anything, says Barry Diller, Fox's chief executive, the fledgling network will operate at a slight disadvantage. "A magazine has to retain its credibility, or it's lost," he maintains. "The natural instinct of the people operating TV Guide will be to bend over backward to ensure that there's no appearance of favoritism...
...Murdoch's holdings may sprawl over four continents, but there is a clear pattern. "Everything is English-language related, global related and media related," says John J. Veronis, head of Veronis, Suhler & Associates, the investment-banking firm that brokered the Triangle deal. Adds Investment Banker Steven Rattner of Morgan Stanley: "Other U.S. media are exporting their products, but Murdoch is the only one buying indigenous communication systems and linking them together...
...potential advantages of such linkages are myriad. For example, Fox controls a large film library, including such hits as Cocoon and Aliens, as well as the syndication rights to such favorite TV shows as L.A. Law and M*A*S*H. If Murdoch's satellite network goes global, he could broadcast movies and reruns to markets as far apart as Memphis and Melbourne. And then, if he combined TV Guide's circulation in the U.S. with that of his TV Week in Australia, he could offer advertisers access to a much larger market for less money. In buying TV Guide...
...betting against Murdoch's global vision because the media magnate controls such an effective power base. News Corp. earned $560 million on $3.5 billion in revenues in 1987. Yet Murdoch can run the huge corporation like a family firm because he and his relatives own half its shares. And that is not going to change anytime soon. News Corp. has issued very few new shares since 1954. Besides, with no more than 40 corporate staffers, News Corp. is so lean that Murdoch can strike his targets quickly. He and Annenberg first talked about a deal over lunch at the Triangle...