WHAT IS NEWS CORP AND WHO OWNS IT?
News Corporation is a global vertically integrated media company founded by Rupert Murdcoh , with properties in film, television, cable, magazines, newspapers, internet and publishing. news corp is one of the most influencial institutions in the media. With operations in the U.K, the United States, Australiasia, and across Europe, News Corp is the globe's leading publisher of
English-language newspapers.
A HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTION....HOW HAS IT DEVELOPED OR CHANGED
1910s
1915 - William Fox leads successful fight against Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Patents Company. The Patents Company is dissolved in the face of anti-trust legislation.
1930s
1931 (March 11) - Rupert Keith Murdoch is born in Australia. Father, Keith Murdoch, is an established newspaper man in the country
1935 - Century Pictures and Fox Film merge to form 20th Century-Fox
1950s
1952 - Murdoch inherits Adelaide News, an Australian mid-size daily, and the Adelaide Sunday Mail
1960s
1960 - - Murdoch's Australian newspaper holdings increase with the acquisition of Cumberland Newspapers, and Mirror Newspapers, Ltd., publishers of Sydney's Daily and Sunday Mirror
1964 - Murdoch launches The Australian as the first national newspaper
1969 - Murdoch takes over News of the World and launches London Sun
1970s
1972 - Murdoch purchases Sydney Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
1973 - Murdoch purchases his first newspaper in the U.S. - San Antonio Express and News
1974 - Enters the supermarket tabloid business by launching The National Star
1977 - Murdoch buys New York Post for $30 million from liberal socialite Dorothy Schiff. He continues his New York buying spree by purchasing New York magazine, Village Voice and New West from Clay Felker
1979 - Diversifies by acquiring Ansett Transport Industries which owns Melbourne TV station, Channel 10. Australia modifies media ownership laws to allow the deal. Critics call the move "The Murdoch Amendments"
1980s
1980 - News Corp. forms
1981 - Takes over Times and Sunday Times in London
1982 - Buys the Boston Herald-American and changes the name to Boston Herald. News Corp. also buys Australian book publisher Angus & Robertson
1983 - Sky, the first satellite TV channel launches. News Corp. buys Chicago Sun Times for $90 million
1984 - Murdoch and News Corp. make take over bid of Warner Brothers but are thwarted
1985 - Murdoch becomes United States citizen in order to purchase more American media outlets. Sells Village Voice. News Corp. buys TCF Holdings Inc., parent company of Twentieth Century Fox Film. In a related deal, News Corp. purchases seven television stations from Metromedia for $1.55 billion (WNEW-TV, New York; KTTV-TV, Los Angeles; WFLD-TV, Chicago; WTTG-TV, Washington, DC; KNBN-TV, Dallas; KRIV-TV, Houston, WFXT-TV in Boston. These stations reach 22% of all television households in the United States. These two deals help to form backbone of a new broadcast television network
1986 - Fox Broadcasting Company is established. News Corp. moves its UK newspaper printing operations to new plant in Wapping. A protracted labor strike ensues. Murdoch sells Chicago Sun-Times
1987 - Takes control Melbourne Herald and Weekly Times, Australia's largest media group. News Corp. becomes world's largest newspaper publisher. News Corp. also purchases the South China Morning Post, UK newspaper Today and United States book publisher Harper and Row. Murdoch now controlled approximately sixty percent of Australian newspapers and thirty-five percent of UK newspapers
1988 - Purchases Triangle Publications (main holding TV Guide) from Walter Annenberg for $3 billion. Sells off New York Post
1989 - Harper Collins is formed after newly acquired William Collins Publishing is merged with Harper and Row. The Simpsons becomes Fox Network's first hit program. Satellite television provider Sky TV is launched.
1990s
1990 - - BSkyB is formed after Sky merges with British Satellite Broadcasting. Accumulation of large debts leads News Corp. down the road to bankruptcy. Citibank, the company's prime lender, takes active role in saving News Corp.
1991 - News Corp. undergoes massive sell off to help lower corporate debt. The properties sold off include: New York, Seventeen, Soap Opera Digest, Soap Opera Weekly, Premiere, and Daily Racing Form
1992 - Buys broadcasting rights for the Premier League, an Australian rugby league, for $300 million
1993 - Gains controlling interest in Asian satellite television service, Star TV. Acquires the right to broadcast NFL games. The move shakes up American sports television as it leaves the NBC network without football coverage. Obtaining the NFL broadcasting rights costs over $1 billion but seen as a necessary investment to help promote fledging Fox Network. News Corp. reacquires New York Post
1996 - HarperCollins sells its education unit to Pearson
1997 - Acquires Los Angeles Dodgers and Dodgers stadium from the O'Malley family for $311 million
1998 - Orders HarperCollins to squash the memoirs of Chris Patten, Hong Kong's last governor and vocal critic of the Communist China government
1999 - Acquires William Morrow and Avon Books in a deal with Hearst
2000 - Present
2001 - Sells stake in Fox Family Network to Disney. Duopolies established in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Washington D.C., and Houston
2002 - Duopolies established in Chicago and Orlando
2003 - Puts LA Dodgers up for sale. Spends $6.6 billion for stake in Hughes Electronic, the parent company of DirecTV
2004 - Los Angeles Dodgers sold to real estate developer Frank McCourt for $430 million
information taken from http://cjrarchives.org/_deprecate/newscorp-timeline.asp
SOME OF THE TEXTS NEWS CORP PRODUCES:
Newspapers in the UK- The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun & News of The World
Newspapers in Australia- Herald Sun, The Australian
Television- Sky, Star TV, Fox, BskyB
Internet- Myspace, Photobucket
Music- Myspace Records
http://www.newscorp.com/operations/index.html
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS....HOW NEWS CORP'S RESPONDING TO THE 'NEW MEDIA' AGE......
One way News Corp have began and extended in to the new media age is by the means of Internet, as they own 'My space', which is now the most successful social website. My Space is a popular social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos for teenagers and adults internationally. Its headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California, USA where it shares an office building with its immediate owner, Fox Interactive Media; which is owned by News Corporation, which has its headquarters in New York. In June 2006, 'My Space' was the most popular social networking site in the United States. According to 'comScore', 'My Space' has been overtaken by main competitor 'Facebook' in April 2008, based on monthly unique visitors. 'ComScore' reports that Facebook attracted 132.1 million unique visitors in June 2008, compared to My Space, which attracted 117.6 million. The company employs 300 staff and does not disclose revenues or separately from News Corporation. The 100 millionth account was created on August 6, 2006 in the Netherlands and approximately 106 million accounts on September 8, 2006,and the site attracts 230,000 new users per day. This all shows how News Corp have adapted to the new media age, as they have responded well to time and have kept up with other main competitors.
