From UltimateTV
By Shelly Lyons
Is this not the dream of every little boy who ever wore knickers? Media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who owns News Corp., which in turn owns Fox Television, 20th Century Fox, International Family Entertainment and possibly our eternal souls, has just made another acquisition -- The Los Angeles Dodgers.
The last family owned team came courtesy of the Peter O'Malley clan, whose price evidently was $350,000,000 (million that is).
Not a surprising or bad development for the Australian born information emporer. Not familiar with the mogul? Haven't read one of his tabloids, watched one of his shows? Here's a look at the man who would own the media:
The 66-year-old Australian-born newspaper magnate unites various interests -- from TV and Cable networks to online services to digitized mapping -- under the corporate umbrella of News Corp. Employs more than 26,000 people around the globe.
Started as a 12-year-old working for his father's Adelaide, Australia newspaper. Worked on London's Fleet Street after graduating from Oxford in 1952. Took over the Adelaide News at 23, perfecting his art of 'tabloid-ing' the headlines ("Queen Eats a Rat"). Purchased Sydney Daily Mirror at 26, then expanded into TV, magazines and books.
Bought Twentieth Century Fox in 1985, which is the same year he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Purchased 7 Metromedia TV stations in 1986. Built the Fox TV network.
Repurchased the New York Post when it was in bankruptcy in 1993. Same year bought 63.3% of Star TV, a Hong Kong satellite network spanning Asia.
Owns approximately 30% of News Corp. Purchased IFE, including The Family Channel in June, 1997.
Also owns Harper-Collins Publishing, which often offers the rich and famous power horses mega bucks for book deals (Newt Gingrich, Margaret Thatcher).
Some of his biggest holdings: British Sky Broadcasting (BskyB), the largest pay TV service in the world; Star TV (covers Asia), Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp; Harper-Collins publishing; Fox Television; New World Communication Group, Inc, which owns six TV stations in the top 20 markets (all Fox affiliates); The New York Post.
But what does this latest acquisition mean? What is the significance?
First of all, this marks the end of the family-owned team, to the era some folks look back on and call innocent, filled with the smell of pie and the crack of bat on ball. The O'Malley's, whose Pa, Peter, brought the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles more than forty years ago, were the last of the baseball families.
Secondly, Fox TV will be able to form a Dodger-Fox network blood bond, and you know damn well Murdoch gets to choose any seat he wants in his whole stadium, which rests in the biggest hills in the center of Metropolitan Los Angeles -- weekend jogging, golfing, tennis, horseback riding, hiking hunting ground for the masses.
Or perhaps he's diverting his attention away from the New York grand jury perusement of a particular business activity, as reported July '97 in The London Telegraph. In question is the role Michael Milken, of securities fraud fame, played in a deal that went down in '95, in which MCI said they'd invest $2 billion in Murdoch's News Corporation. As a side note, Murdoch himself has a worth (pre-Dodgers purchase) of approximately $3.2 billion.
And my favorite theory: That Murdoch doesn't want that loudmouth Turner to be the only colorful broadcast mogul with his very own baseball team.
Mogul Vs. Mogul
It's almost a living entertainment legend, the rivalry between Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner. Barbs have been thrown back and forth in the press, and to say that there's some competition between the two is an understatement.
Most recently, Turner, (Time Warner, Inc.) in true blue American cowboy fashion, challenged Aussie cowpoke Murdoch to a boxing match in order to settle their differences once and for all.
Turner began his speech (translated photo opp) to entertainment leaders with a promise not to say anything derogatory about Murdoch, a habit that has gotten the Time Warner Inc. vice chairman into trouble in the past.
"What do you think about Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner putting on gloves and getting into the ring," the Time Warner Inc vice chairman, who also owns the Atlanta Braves National League baseball league franchise, asked, mythologizing the event by referring to himself and his rival in the second person.
"Nobody's seen two 60-year olds fight in a long time," Turner said. "It would be good entertainment and we could give all the money to charity. To the indigenous actors' home." Rupert, by the way, is 66.
All promises Ted made about not picking on Murdoch were swept aside when Turner asked if anyone in the audience would like to see Murdoch own the Dodgers (this was in mid June).
Nobody raised a hand. This comment is typical of Turner, who has often personalized the professional rivalry with Murdoch.
And last year, Turner compared Murdoch to Adolf Hitler. He later apologized, not to Murdoch but to Jewish groups.
During a court battle in the same year over cable rights in New York, Turner called Murdoch a "slimy character" and a "very dangerous person."
Now the fellas can blow off some steam and settle their problems in the true gentleman-of-power-and-money way, and PLAY BALL.
