Murdoch’s short-term goal (and no one wished to discuss that, either) seems markedly more concrete–to needle rival media titan Ted Turner, boss of Turner Broadcasting. The baiting game is a favorite sport of the industry’s moguls. And, while these two have traded barbs periodically, Turner has lately made his sharper. The new round began this fall when Murdoch made noises about buying Turner Broadcasting (before the programming giant agreed to be swallowed by Time Warner). Turner spurned the overtures, wary of Murdoch’s autocratic ways and conservative politics.
Turner, Murdoch obviously believes, could use a good kick in the politics and business. “We think it’s about time CNN was challenged,” he said in his speech, “especially as it tends to drift further and further to the left.” Turner, who specializes in the blunt retort, had one ready later in the week. “I’m looking forward to squishing Murdoch like a bug,” he told an industry gathering. But Turner’s lieutenants believe he won’t have to. A CNN spokesman noted that Murdoch has bluffed for years about challenging CNN.
No doubt Murdoch seriously wants to launch a rival service. Murdoch lieutenants say he’s ruminated about it for years. But few industry executives believe Murdoch can–or plans to– pull it off any time soon. For one thing, he knows he can’t get enough distribution from cable operators. The nation’s two largest operators, Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) and Time Warner, own more than 40 percent of Turner. Even the persuasive Murdoch can’t expect to get their help in challenging their own comfy monopoly.
Anyway, Murdoch already has lots of empire expansion underway. Recently, he and TCI boss John Malone began to challenge ESPN’s sports franchise–despite the fact that ESPN will have even deeper pockets after Walt Disney Co. completes its purchase of ESPN parent Capital Cities/ABC. Murdoch, Malone and a Mexican media baron also are on a campaign in Latin America to conquer satellite-TV frontiers. With MCI, he is working to wrest a chunk of the online market from the likes of America Online. On top of such projects, “news would be very expensive,” says Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif.
Fortunately, busy media men can afford to spend time away from the calculator. Murdoch now has R&R on his mind. As reported in the sports pages of his own New York Post last week, the boss is off to the races later this month as a crew member of a yacht owned by his buddy billionaire Larry Ellison. But maybe it won’t be all talk of sail conditions. Ellison has watched his share of vaporware wars: he’s the founder and chief of Oracle Computer.
