News Corporation may sell its share of SkyPerfecTV, Japan’s sole satellite broadcaster. Shareholders including majors Sony, Fuji TV and Itochu, have been asked if they are interested in buying News Corps share of 8.1%. A sale would damage Murdochs attempt to be a player in one of the world’s biggest broadcasting markets.
News Corp has probably not given up on the important Japanese broadcasting market which has a value of Y2,000bn, but Japan’s 20 per cent cap on foreign investment in broadcasters is a deterrent. SkyPerfecTV has made losses for the past seven years.
And theres trouble brewing in India, where Stars news broadcasting unit is 74 per cent Indian-owned. But now the Indian government has ordered that a single dominant investor must hold at least 51 per cent of news broadcasting organisations.
The broadcaster has a month to comply with the changes, which emerged after a meeting chaired by prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Friday. The policy shift brings news broadcasting into line with foreign investment norms in print media.