'Land-grabbing' broadcaster must be tamed, says News Corporation chief. The chairman and chief executive of News Corporation in Europe and Asia had already launched an attack on the corporation's "chilling" land-grab in the UK on Friday at the Edinburgh Television Festival. But yesterday he went further by suggesting that the some BBC funding should be withdrawn and a that there was "a good argument for a market failure test". "The UK is by far the hardest place in the world to pull this off. The BBC floods the market," he said, adding that a reduction in the licence fee would force it to prioritise its budget better. Mr Murdoch is planning to start charging next year for online content produced by his UK newspapers, which include the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sunand the News of the World. But News Corporation's attempt to put its all its global content behind so-called "pay walls" has become more difficult in the UK as a result of the free news provided by the BBC. Mr Murdoch, who is considered to be a leading candidate to succeed his father at the top of the global media empire, believes that the move towards charging for online newspaper content will mean we "will have a smaller independent news sector going forwards". His attack on the BBC as "a brilliantly designed system for unaccountable perpetual growth over many years" was unexpectedly ferocious. He was strongly critical of the corporation's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, especially its acquisition of a majority stake in the Lonely Planet travel guides. "I don't understand why a guide to night clubs in Mykonos is what the Government needs to be doing," he said. He also criticised the BBC's £100m spend on Hollywood programming. Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, responded to Friday's attack by emphasising that the body's purpose was "to strengthen the BBC for the benefit of licence fee payers, not to emasculate it on behalf of commercial interests." Separately, Mr Murdoch gave his support for the French "three strikes" system aimed at punishing internet pirates. Internet service providers (ISPs), such as BT and Virgin Media, recently objected to new proposals from the Government to punish illegal downloaders by switching off the internet connection of long-term offenders. Mr Murdoch said that he supports the proposal – despite being in charge of News Corporation's large broadband business, BSkyB. "Sky is a huge investor in content. Yes, we are an ISP, but we have a more rounded and balanced view than the rest of the technology and telecoms industry," he said. "The French approach has really said that the creative and intellectual bloc is where we are going to side. It is an approach that has clarity."James Murdoch targets BBC
BBC's websites 'flooding the market', says News Corp's James Murdoch
James Murdoch, son of News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch, has called for a cut in the BBC's licence fee because its free websites "flooding the market" make it tougher for newspapers to charge for online content.
Sunday, 30 August 2009
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