Murdoch May Be Hungry for NBC Universal

Murdoch's got the whole media world in his hands.

Now this is a fine "how do you do." Reuters' Yinka Adegoke and Anupreeta Das are reporting that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is considering making a play for NBC Universal. If your head is suddenly hurting from all the potential conflicts and backtracking that particular deal would set in motion, you're not alone. And you've been paying attention. (This link comes via Gawker's John Cook.)

As you may recall, in early October, Sharon Waxman's The Wrap broke the news that Comcast was considering buying a majority stake in General Electric's NBC Universal division. Now, according to Adegoke and Das (who cite CNBC—a division of NBC Universal), Murdoch and his merry band of partisans hasn't approached GE yet, but is seen as "a less likely bidder, analysts have said, because taking a stake in NBC might raise antitrust concerns with the U.S. government."

Of course, Murdoch has flouted FCC rules before. In 1995, News Corp. got around regulations governing foreign ownership of television networks. In 2001, it brushed aside FCC rules about owning local papers and TV stations in the same market. In 2003, News Corp. managed to get approval to buy DirectTV from General Motors. Murdoch is so adept at dealing with the FCC, according to The Atlantic's James Fallows, a consortium of progressive organizations including MoveOn.org, Common Cause, and Free Press ran a national ad campaign in 2003 with a picture of Murdoch beneath the headline, "This Man Wants to Control the News in America… The FCC Wants to Help Him." So, don't sweat the FCC: Rupert Murdoch doesn't.

What's more challenging to overcome than some silly laws protecting consumers from a monopoly controlling what they see and read is News Corp.'s own longstanding beef with GE in general and NBC in particular. Remember back in August when the New York Times' Brian Stelter reported that GE and News Corp. brass had tried to reach a truce after on-air sniping between Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann had reached cats-and-dogs level of snarling and biting? That cease-fire went nowhere fast as Olbermann and O'Reilly each proved they still had some punches to throw. Then in September, Glenn Beck got in on the act, claiming NBC Universal's Rockefeller Center headquarters was lousy with fascist, communist art. (Someone must be trying out material for a Dan Brown-esque novel of his own.)

Do these guys seem like they could all shake hands and play along with a News Corp.-NBC-Universal Secret Santa game this holiday season? Unlikely. But, then again, no one thought Murdoch would get his mitts on the Wall Street Journal, and now it is his favorite plaything—so much so the Guardian knocked him from the top 5 of their Media 100 list in July for spending too much time stroking and petting it.

Will NBC have to change its signature peacock to a fox? Stay tuned, mate.