By: Antitrust experts say News Corp.?s $5 billion purchase of Dow Jones & Co. will glide through regulatory review because Rupert Murdoch?s global media empire is not concentrated in any particular product or region.
Among other holdings, News Corp. owns the Fox broadcast network, Fox News Channel, the Twentieth Century Fox movie and TV studio and has a one-third stake in satellite provider DirecTV. The company also owns the New York Post and the online social hangout site MySpace.
Murdoch?s company has extensive overseas holdings, including satellite broadcasters in Europe and Asia, newspapers in the United Kingdom and Australia, and book publishing and magazine properties.
Federal cross-ownership rules prohibit the same entity from owning both a television station and a newspaper in the same local market. While News Corp. owns two local stations in New York, the Journal isn?t considered a local New York City paper under a previous FCC ruling, two lawyers said.
The agencies usually divide antitrust reviews on a case-by-case basis. Justice would likely review a News Corp.-Dow Jones deal, as it generally oversees media transactions, several lawyers said.
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