Audio Video News

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has withdrawn its offer to acquire direct broadcast satellite service DirecTV, according to reports over the weekend of October 27–28. News Corp. had been in contention for 18 months to buy DirecTV's parent company Hughes Electronics from its corporate owner General Motors.

The decision leaves only rival DBSer EchoStar in pursuit of DirecTV, a larger operation with more than 10 million subscribers. An EchoStar/DirecTV merger would result in a single service with more than 16 million subscribers, but could create a "monopoly in the sky," which might draw the ire of regulators, among them the US Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission.

General Motors' board of directors will meet on November 5 to continue deliberations on the fate of its electronics unit, according to company spokesmen. Whether EchoStar will be granted the acquisition by default isn't known at this moment. EchoStar executives are still intent on picking up their larger rival, reports stated.