Fox, the US content arm of News Corporation, says that it will sell off 9 of its TV stations in US markets, including Cleveland, Denver, St. Louis, Kansas, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, Birmingham, Memphis, and Greensboro.
News Corp has 35 owned-and-operated stations in the United States, making the Fox Television Stations (FTS) group among the largest in the US and one of the four national broadcasting networks along with ABC, NBC and CBS.
While we can see that some of these areas are in low population areas with weaker revenue streams, and that Fox insists that after the sale it will remain one of the nation’s strongest station groups, it does beg the question ‘What’s CEO Rupert Murdoch up to?’
Is this a de-emphasis on the US, or is this a gradual slide out of broadcast markets into online markets? Has the loss of DirecTV to liberty media reduced the group’s ambitions in the US, and does its fledgling operations in China need more funding? We’re sure this will all be made clear eventually, but we shall try to keep an eye on the asset changes at News Corp and a keen eye on its next set of results.