• ESPN gains $219 million from 50% stake sale in ESS to News Corp

    Submitted by ITV Production on Feb 08
    indiantelevision.com Team

    MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Corp?s payout to ESPN for the 50 per cent stake buy in ESPN Star Sports (ESS) is $220 million, net of cash.

    In November 2012, News Corp said it acquired the stake of ESPN in ESS for approximately $335 million. So this implies that ESS had a cash balance of $115 million at the time of buying out ESPN?s stake in the company.

    ESPN, the American sports television network, said Wednesday in its first quarter financial results that it has gained $219 million from the sale of its 50 per cent interest in ESS, its Asian sports joint venture with rival News Corp.

    ESPN last year sold its stake in the JV for $335 million thereby valuing ESS at $770 million. ESS, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of News Corp, has been renamed as Fox Star Sports Asia.

    Except in India, the ESPN brand name has also been dropped across Asia and all the channels have been renamed Fox Sports in markets where it had a presence.

    "EPS for the current quarter includes a gain on the sale of our 50 per cent interest in ESPN STAR Sports of $219 million," The Walt Disney Company said in its October-December first quarter results.

    The gain from sale of equity interest in ESS helped ESPN to partially offset lower operating results during the quarter.

  • News Corp to be majority shareholder in Sky Deutschland

    Submitted by ITV Production on Jan 15
    indiantelevision.com Team

    MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch?s News Corporation will become the majority shareholder in Sky Deutschland with a 54.5 per cent stake in the loss making German media company.

    News Corporation, which holds 49.9 per cent stake in Sky Deutschland, has reached an agreement with the company and its new bank syndicate to support both a new financing structure and the issuance of ?438 million of new equity.

    The new bank financing, which will be guaranteed by News Corporation, will replace Sky Deutschland?s current bank debt facilities.

    As a result of this transaction Sky Deutschland will become a consolidated entity of News Corporation, the company said in a statement.

    Under the new financing structure, News Corporation has committed to provide a guarantee to Sky Deutschland?s lending banks and to act as guarantor to the German Football League (DFL) for Sky Deutschland?s new Bundesliga broadcasting license for the 2013-17 seasons in an amount of up to 50 percent of the license fee per season.

    "We have always believed in Sky Deutschland?s ability to transform the pay TV experience in Germany and Austria and this new financing structure further validates that longstanding commitment," said News Corporation President and COO Chase Carey.

    "News Corporation?s continued investment underscores the value we see in Sky Deutschland and the significant market opportunities it faces, and reflects our confidence in its management team and their strategies for growth."

    The move comes as the company is in the process of splitting its profitable media and entertainment business from the loss making publishing business. The M&E entertainment company will be known as Fox Group while the publishing entity will retain the name News Corporation.

    Earlier, Rupert Murdoch?s News Corp, which owns 39.1 per cent in BSkyB, had made a failed attempt to taking full control of the UK pay-TV operator due to the phone hacking scandal.

  • News Corp suffers $2.08 bn loss from publishing biz

    Submitted by ITV Production on Dec 22
    indiantelevision.com Team

    MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch-promoted News Corporation has said in its regulatory filing that its publishing arm on a standalone basis would have lost $2.08 billion in the last fiscal year compared to $678 million a year earlier.

    The loss includes an impairment charge of around $2.6 billion due to closure of the News of the World and lower revenues at its Australian papers.

    The company?s revenue from publishing business fell to $8.65 billion in fiscal year 2012, from $9.1 billion a year earlier.

    News Corp has initiated the process of splitting the company into two independent, publicly-traded companies by filing an initial Form 10 Registration Statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

    Earlier, this month News Corp had decided to name its media and entertainment company as Fox Group with the publishing entity retaining the name News Corporation.

    News Corporation, the new publishing arm, will comprise a range of market-leading brands in newspapers, information services and integrated marketing services, digital real estate services, book publishing, digital education, as well as sports programming and pay-TV distribution in Australia.

    Fox Group, the film and television businesses, will comprise Fox Broadcasting, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Twentieth
    Century Fox Television, Fox Sports, Fox International Channels, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FX, Star Network, the National Geographic Channels, Shine Group, Fox Television Stations, BSkyB, Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland.

    "The filing of the Form 10 is another important step forward in the evolution of our company and in the establishment of two independent global leaders in Fox Group and the new News Corporation," said Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation.

    "Today we are pleased to provide further details on the new News Corporation - a global diversified media and information services company uniquely positioned to take advantage of exciting growth opportunities and new business models."

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  • Murdoch sells his entire Class A non-voting shares

    Submitted by ITV Production on Nov 22
    indiantelevision.com Team

    MUMBAI: News Corp chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has sold his entire Class A non-voting shares to retain his voting stake in the company.

    As per regulatory filings, Murdoch sold 418,631 shares on 20 November for more than $10 million at $23.87 to $24.01 per share.

    The sale was for estate-planning purposes, reported Bloomberg quoting a source.

    The Murdoch family holds 12 per cent but its dual class shareholding structure gives it 40 per cent of the voting power.

    It needs to be noted that Murdoch was facing stiff opposition from News Corp shareholders, some of who had proposed sweeping changes to make the management more accountable particularly in the wake of phone hacking scandal in the company?s UK publishing unit.

    The investors had also criticised the dual-class structure during the annual general meeting which gives Murdoch family undue power to take their agenda forward.

    The company?s Class A shares fell less than 1 percent to $23.82 at the close in New York.

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  • News Corp to pick up 49% in Yankees channel

    Submitted by ITV Production on Nov 19
    indiantelevision.com Team

    MUMBAI: News Corp is believed to have concluded the deal for acquisition of 49 per cent stake in cable network channel Yes Network, the channel owned by baseball team New York Yankees and its partners.

    The deal with Rupert Murdoch?s News Corp would value the sports channel at $3 billion.

    While officials from News Corp and Yes Network have refused to comment on the deal, it is believed that the media conglomerate which runs 20 regional sports networks will have an option to increase its stake to 80 per cent in three to five years.

    News Corp, which will have a share in the profits, will negotiate on behalf of Yes Network with the operators as part of a larger package of sports channels which would allow Yes to raise the subscriber fee.

    As per the shareholding pattern of Yes, Yankee Global Enterprises owns 34 per cent while Goldman Sachs and Providence Equity own 40 per cent. The remainder 26 per cent is owned by former owners of the Nets.

    As per the deal, Fox sports channels will not manage the channel nor will provide local or national sports programming to Yes.

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  • BCCI rights impact News Corp's earnings from channels

    Submitted by ITV Production on Nov 07
    indiantelevision.com Team

    MUMBAI: Star India?s acquisition of BCCI media rights for a whopping price has resulted in US media conglomerate News Corp?s international cable channels earnings contributions decline by 7 per cent in the first quarter ended 30 September from a year earlier.

    Expenses at News Corp?s cable network programming grew by 11 per cent in part due to the BCCI rights. Star India earlier this year acquired BCCI media rights for Rs 38.51 billion for six years till 2018.

    News Corp has reported total revenue for the first quarter of $8.14 billion, a $177 million, or two per cent, increase over the $7.96 billion a year earlier.

    The revenue increase was led by 16 per cent growth at the company?s cable network programming segment, which was partially offset by declines at the company?s direct broadcast satellite television and publishing segments. The international affiliate?s revenue increase was boosted by Star India.

    Cable network programming reported quarterly segment operating income of $953 million, a $178 million, or 23 per cent, increase over the prior year quarter, driven by a 16 per cent increase in revenue. Operating income contributions from the domestic channels increased by 33 per cent, led by growth at the Regional Sports Networks (RSNs), FX Network and Fox News Channel.

    Strong local currency operating profit growth at the Fox International Channels was more than offset by the adverse impact of the strengthened US dollar and the impact of the inaugural broadcasts of the new BCCI cricket rights at Star.

    About two-thirds of the international affiliate revenue increase reflects strong local currency organic growth at FIC and Star in India. The balance of the growth was from the inclusion of Fox Pan American Sports partially offset by the impact of strengthened US dollar.

    Ad revenue at the domestic cable channels grew by eight per cent in the quarter over the prior year period, led by growth at the RSNs and Fox News Channel. The international cable channels? advertising revenue improved on a local currency basis but reported a one per cent decline from the prior year quarter, as the impact of the strengthened US dollar more than offset local currency growth at both the Fox International Channels, which benefitted from the consolidation of the Fox Pan American Sports network, and Star in India.

    Expenses at cable network programming grew by 11 per cent in the quarter over the corresponding period in the prior year, due to increased programming costs including rights fees for the BCCI cricket in India, expanded Big 12 and PAC 12 college football coverage, the launch of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, as well as increased expenses associated with the consolidation of the Fox Pan American Sports network and the launch of new sports networks in Brazil and San Diego.

    Film reported quarterly segment operating income of $400 million, $53 million higher than the $347 million reported in the same period a year ago. Quarterly results reflect the successful worldwide theatrical performance of ?Ice Age: Continental Drift?, which has grossed over $850 million in worldwide box office to date and is now the biggest animated film of all-time at the international box office.

    Prior year first quarter film results included the successful worldwide theatrical performance of ?Rise of the Planet of the Apes? and the worldwide home entertainment performances of ?Rio? and ?X-Men: First Class?. The quarter also included increased contributions from the television production studios, including increased digital distribution revenue related to the timing of delivery of content to Netflix.

    Television reported quarterly segment operating income of $156 million, an increase of $23 million versus the same period a year ago. This increase reflects a more than doubling of retransmission consent revenues and increased local advertising, driven by record first quarter political advertising revenues. These improvements were partially offset by lower national advertising revenues primarily reflecting lower primetime ratings and the market impact from the Olympics in August.

    News Corp chairman, CEO Rupert Murdoch said, "Our operational discipline and focus on innovation continued to drive the company?s momentum in our fiscal first quarter, led by double-digit growth in our channels business and the global success of our film and television content. Even against considerable currency headwinds due to a stronger dollar, we were able to increase News Corp?s revenue and adjusted segment operating profit over the prior year quarter while continuing to make key investments to position us for future growth."

    "We are committed to leading the change that the marketplace and our customers demand as the company builds on its success at leveraging multi-platform opportunities for our content. We believe that our ability to do so will be enhanced by the flexibility and management focus that will result from the proposed separation of our entertainment and publishing businesses. We have made considerable progress in this process and look forward to providing more details by the end of the calendar year."

    Sky Italia generated quarterly segment operating income of $23 million, compared to $119 million of operating income reported in the same period a year ago. The decline was driven by higher programming expenses, including nearly $70 million of rights costs associated with the broadcast of the Olympics. This year?s quarterly results were also adversely impacted by the strengthened U.S. dollar. While reported U.S. dollar revenues declined, quarterly local currency revenue increased 1% from the corresponding period of the prior year led by higher subscription revenues. SKY Italia experienced a net reduction of approximately 40,000 subscribers during the quarter, bringing total subscribers to 4.86 million.

    PUBLISHING

    Publishing reported quarterly segment operating income of $57 million, a $53 million decrease compared to the $110 million reported in the same period a year ago, due to lower advertising revenues across all divisions, led by declines at the Australian and U.S. publishing businesses. The declines were partially offset by increased contributions at the U.K. newspapers, which benefitted from the launch of the Sunday edition of The Sun in February 2012, and at HarperCollins, which benefitted from the acquisition of Thomas Nelson, a Christian book publisher.

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