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Posts Tagged Murdoch

Australian Media Regulators Looking into Murdoch’s “Fitness”

May 6

Posted by Michael Collins in Big Money, Murdoch, News Corporation, Pay TV Piracy | Comments off

The first crack in Rupert Murdoch’s political facade in Australia occurred Friday, May 4.   The Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA) announced it was looking closely at the House of Commons committee report that declared Murdoch unfit to run an international business.   ACMA licenses and regulates television broadcasting, digital communication, and radio frequency allocation.

Rupert Murdoch controls 70% of the newspaper market in Australia.  He has major interests in the Foxtel pay TV network.  And his political influence in Australia is even greater than in Great Britain and the United States.

The Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) is reviewing the British parliamentary committee report which described News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch as ‘not fit’ to lead an international company.

The explosive findings also suggested that former chief executive James Murdoch was wilfully ignorant of the extent of the practice of phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World. News Corporation released a statement on Tuesday accepting the report, while rejecting some of its “unjustified and highly partisan” commentary.   Murdoch report: ACMA and US Senate enter the fray, May 4

This is the first sign of any potential challenge to Murdoch’s authority in his former homeland.   Despite a heavily documented expose of alleged pay TV hacking and piracy published by the Australian Financial Review, Australian competition regulators gave approval for a Foxtel (Murdoch controls it) acquisition of a competitor (AUSTAR)  that it is alleged Murdoch’s firm hacked.

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When was the last time a legislative body denounced any business leader by name?

May 4

Posted by Michael Collins in Big Money, Corruption, Murdoch, Phone Hacking | Comments off

By Michael Collins

May Day!  How remarkable (even though Rupert Murdoch was denounced by a committee of the House of Commons, not the entire body).   Murdoch is “not a fit person” to run “a major international company,” we were told in a report released by the Commons’ committee investigating phone hacking on May 1).  He may not be unbalanced, as Murdoch  recently characterized former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but he’s certainly not fit.  (Image)

Here’s some of what this means:

1)  There’s no way Murdoch will survive the regulatory investigation on his ownership of media in Great Britain..  One of Ofcom’s charters (the regulatory body) is to determine if Murdoch is a “fit and proper” person to own BSkyB and other British media properties.
2)  When it looks like Murdoch has to divest the 39% News Corp interest in the highly profitable BSkyB pay TV network, institutional shareholders will Kirk out!  The Sky enterprise amounted to 20% plus of News Corp’s 2011 profits.  Oops!
3)   Murdoch won’t go gentle into the dark night.  He will become increasingly irrational as seen in his sting operation against his once loyal servant David Cameron.  It is fair to assume that he’s got more dirt on public officials than J. Edgar ever had … and he’ll start using it.
4)  Murdoch will retain the continued loyalty of the News Corp board (see members listed below).  After the release of the condemnation by the Commons committee, Murdoch’s board released a statement expressing “full confidence in Rupert Murdoch’s fitness and support for his continuing to lead News Corporation into the future as its Chairman and CEO.”
5) Murdoch may get the bums rush out of News Corp as a result of an institutional investor like the Christian Brothers Investment Services which has said it would ask the SEC to change the voting rights of shareholders (Murdoch has outsized representation in voting shares).

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Where’s the criminal investigation of the Murdoch Empire? Shareholders to the rescue

Apr 4

Posted by Michael Collins in Big Money, Corruption, News Corporation | Comments off

By Michael Collins

There was something tawdry and disgusting about the phone hacking by Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World.  The News Corporation owned tabloid hacked the phone mails of several thousand citizens of Great Britain.  Victims included celebrities, politicians, and even a murdered eleven year old kidnap victim.

But that wasn’t enough to generate type of criminal investigation of News Corporation that would topple Rupert Murdoch and his clan from the throne of the $30 billion News Corporation.

The current revelations of cable television hacking, laid out in detail by Australia’s Financial Review and the BBC, provide a more concrete connection between outright criminality and the Murdoch run media giant.  This alleged criminal behavior involves hackers on the payroll of a former Murdoch controlled Israel based company, NDS, and the demise of cable television competitors in Great Britain, the United States, and Australia due to that activity.

These allegations are reinvigorating the institutional shareholders revolt that may be the end of the Murdoch clan’s control of News Corporation. Read the rest of this entry »

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News Corp faces proxy call for independent chairman: Reuters

Apr 3

Posted by Michael Collins in Big Money, Corruption, Justice, News Corporation, Wall St | 1 Comment


Reuters
By Ross Kerber and Aruna Viswanatha BOSTON | Mon Apr 2, 2012

News Corp faces a call to appoint an independent board chairman on concerns Rupert Murdoch’s media company needs to pursue more reforms to deal with its phone-hacking scandal and other issues.

The proxy proposal, filed by Christian Brothers Investment Services, is likely to fan an ongoing controversy over governance at the company.

Although unlikely to get a majority of votes, the nonbinding resolution filed last month could put pressure on the board to remove Murdoch, currently News Corp’s chief executive, from his other role as chairman of the company, the sponsor said.

With current arrangements, the company is “stepping into the scandal with a flawed corporate governance structure,” Julie Tanner, who oversees socially responsible investing at Christian Brothers in New York, said in a telephone interview.

Murdoch, Sons Draw Substantial Negative Vote, ABC News, October 25, 2011

Cristain Brothers Investment Services (CBIS) Files Resolution on Separation of Chair and CEO at News Corp Read the rest of this entry »

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Ray Adams is the man in the lastest Murdoch scandal

Mar 29

Posted by Michael Collins in Big Money, Corruption, Wall St | Comments off

By Michael Collins

Ray Adams is a name you will hear more frequently as the latest and perhaps most fatal Murdoch – News Corp. scandal emerges.

When Murdoch was setting up his BSKYB cable network in England, he had some serious competition.  ITV had a digital service called ITV Digital.  The British broadcaster was prepared to go head to head with Murdoch’s network.  As the services rolled out, ITV Digital became subject to furious hacker attacks.  The hackers broke the ITV  encryption code and distributed it widely allowing so many people to get free ITV service, the venture failed, largely due to the piracy of its service, and Murdoch had a clean road to mega profits with BSKYB.

The BBC’s Panorama television show broke a story (not yet available in the United States) accusing a Murdoch owned firm, NDS, of hiring hackers to break the ITV code, thus sabotaging the Murdoch competitor.  The rest is history and huge profits.  BSKYB is the dominant British cable network.  It’s spreading throughout Europe.

During the time ITV was hacked out of existence, Ray Adams was the head of operational security for NDS.  The firm hired hackers to anticipate and check security problems with its own encryption system.  But there’s more.  Reports from Great Britain and Australia document NDS using hackers to target rivals.  Australia’s Financial Review just broke a well document story outlining the same pattern of hacking behavior by NDS in behalf of Murdoch cable operations there.  The publication documented the story with 10,000 emails it received from, you guessed it, the computer of Ray Adams. Read the rest of this entry »

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Video – House of Commons Investigates Murdoch Phone Hacking

Sep 14

Posted by Michael Collins in Big Money | Comments off

HoC Culture, Media and Sport Committee Tuesday 6 September
Wilson Room
Meeting started on Tuesday 6 September at 10.38am
ended at 2.01pm

Phone hacking
Witnesses

  1. Jonathan Chapman, former Director of Legal Affairs, and Daniel Cloke, former Group HR Director, News International
  2. Colin Myler, former Editor, News of the World and Tom Crone, former Legal Manager, News Group Newspapers

Visit the Committee’s homepage.

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Murdoch Hearings – See No Evil, Hear No Evil

Jul 20

Posted by Michael Collins in Big Money, Corruption, Criminal Justice | Comments off

The Murdoch’s and their former chief executive of News International testified before a House of Commons committee yesterday.  Their hours of explanations can be summarized in a phrase:  we knew nothing. (Image)

Rupert Murdoch was too busy flying around the world milking his cash cow media properties to be at all involved.

Number two son James was the executive in direct command and he heard nothing.

Rebekah Brooks, editor of the News of the World at the time of the Milly Dowler hacking, completed the trifecta of ignorance.  Since she knew nothing, her very frequent contact with the Murdoch father-son team had to be, as the Fugs said, “a whole lot of nothing.”

A second House of Commons hearing considered the role of the police in all of this.  Paul Stephenson resigned in disgrace recently as head of the London Metropolitan Police.  He concluded that the conviction of two News of the World phone hackers in 2007 was a “very successful” end of the investigation.  Phone hacking and other invasions of privacy, case closed.
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