Murdoch says ‘no’ to NBC-U
Chris Forrester
19-10-2009


News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch confirmed that it is looking closely at the potential Comcast deal to take over NBC-Universal. However, it is only looking at what Murdoch describes as “opportunities” and not at any sort of acquisition.

"Like we do with everything, we will certainly have a look at that deal and see what opportunities are there, but we're not in any negotiations," Rupert Murdoch said at News Corp’s AGM.

Murdoch told the meeting he was confident about the current year’s forecasts that the company reported earlier this year. He also said the media giant was well positioned to handle the tough economic climate, and has about $7 billion of cash on its balance sheet.

“The outlook for the economy is pretty steady," he added. "We're not going to get another vast, steep decline that we've experienced, nor are we going to get any steep increase."

He told investors that News Corp would now be seeking carriage fees from cable companies and other distributors which took Fox TV’s signals. “We will be seeking retransmission dollars from all our distributors, asking cable companies and other partners to pay a small portion of the profits they make by reselling broadcast channels," he said.