Murdoch Plays to the Right Congressional Audience

BY ALICIA MUNDY

Give Rupert Murdoch credit ? he knows how to get home court advantage. Having given ?scheduling problems? as the reason he could not attend the Senate Commerce Committee hearing two days earlier on media ownership, he waltzed into the House Judiciary Committee last Thursday morning with a smile.

Some observers uncharitably opined that Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corp., deliberately wanted to avoid a grilling by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), in favor of a warm wet kiss from House Republicans. He certainly got one from the biggest smoocher, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (Wisc.), the Judiciary Chairman, who waxed eloquent about Fox News Channel. Whatever the reason, there was no denying that Murdoch had a pretty smooth time in his chosen venue.

Murdoch's fellow witnesses included a former Federal Trade Commissioner who didn't think Murdoch's $6.6 billion acquisition of Hughes Electronics' DirecTV satellite company posed much of a problem; a vice chairman of the American Cable Association, who did; and Gene Kimmelman of the Consumers Union, who has for the last 15 years thought it posed a problem.

?There is a danger that News Corp. will discriminate against nonaffiliated programmers in determining what programming to offer on its DirecTV satellite system,? Kimmelman testified. ?News Corp. could also pressure cable operators to do the same in return for more favorable carriage terms for News Corp.-owned programming.?

Murdoch told the committee he has ?no incentive? to ?engage in anticompetitive behavior.? This amused Kimmelman, who said afterwards, ?It's good theater, but his words are totally inconsistent with his past behavior and his economic incentives.?

Rep. Rich Boucher (D-Va.), who had many concerns over EchoStar Communications' attempt to buy DirecTV last year, asked Murdoch if he would continue practicing program access even if the Federal Communications Commission dropped the rule, which affects cable operators. Murdoch wouldn't give, saying it would ?disadvantage? his company. He did promise to make Fox's popular sports packages and local broadcast stations available to competitor EchoStar and cable MSOs at a ?reasonable? cost. The FCC and Department of Justice must review the deal with DirecTV, but there are no major antitrust hurdles as there were with EchoStar.

Some House Judiciary Committee Democrats complained about Murdoch's increasing reach and the conservative tone of Fox News Channel. Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.) said, ?You scare the hell out of me.? Murdoch declined to respond in kind.

Sensenbrenner countered, ?If my wife doesn't get a good dose of Fox News every morning, she gets pretty grumpy.?