Image via WikipediaRupert Murdoch and BSkyB: how powerful would a takeover make him?
Rupert Murdoch wants to own all of broadcaster BSkyB. If he gets his way, the shape of British media could change forever, according to a leaked report. See what the data says
• Get the data
• Get the data
Rupert Murdoch is keen to buy up the rest of BSkyB - he presently controls 39.1% of the company which is increasingly dominating British broadcasting.
A memo signed by a coalition of British media companies, including the Guardian, asks Business secretary Vince Cable to refer the proposed takeover to Ofcom.
So, if Murdoch succeeds, just how powerful would he become in the UK? According to a confidential report from respected media analyst Claire Enders to Vince Cable - subsequently leaked to media site BeehiveCity - it would substantially change the British media landscape.
Allowing the deal to go through would amount to Britain's 'Berlusconi moment'
You can download the leaked report at the site and it includes tonnes of data and a damning final verdict on the proposed takeover.
The key points are, according to Enders:
Products currently separately offered by BSkyB and News Corp titles may be combined in bundles… Strategic initiatives of this nature could lead to a much more rapid decline in competitor newspaper circulations than we have assumed, boosting News Corp's newspaper market share above 40% by 2014……Stories from Sky News (especially video) will presumably be carried more and more frequently on News Corp websites … Progressively, News International papers and BSkyB channels, particularly Sky News, may merge into one stream of fact and opinion. If this occurred, plurality would decline, even if the combined organisation continued to maintain newsrooms that are nominally separate……The loss of the independent BSkyB shareholders will allow News Corp greater opportunity to influence, tacitly or otherwise, the editorial coverage of Sky News and other BSkyB channels…
The final point is perhaps the most serious:
We believe … that there is a risk of a reduction in media plurality to an unacceptably low level
We've extracted the key data from the report for you below - plus a list (probably not exhaustive) of News Corporations' operations, from the group's website. We've visualised it above (click on the image to get the graphic).
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