Murdoch Denies Interest in Five

Rupert Murdoch has reiterated that he isn�t interested in taking on the UK�s fifth terrestrial broadcasting licence. His denial comes as peers prepare to do battle over the proposed relaxation of the media ownership laws.

Speaking at a News Corp financial press conference Murdoch said, “We have never asked to buy Channel Five and if it ever went to a vote on the Sky board I would vote against it.” He claimed that rumours to the contrary were merely establishment and press paranoia and denied any political �deal� had been struck in return for support on the euro issue.

He did however comment on the reluctance of Australian and European regulators to embrace deregulatory, market focused approaches saying, “The tendency here [in the US] has been, for years, progressive deregulation as the market has become much more complex and much more diverse, and where there’s been a proliferation of different voices everywhere�It’s pretty hard to get that across in Australia and pretty hard to get it across in Europe.”

Plans for the near future center on capitalizing on the investment the company has made buying a 34% stake in Direct TV in the United States and launching Sky Italia. These projects would come first and the company claims now to have its �hands-full�.

News Corporation posted a $170 million profit for the third quarter.