After 18 months of negotiations, Murdoch's News Corporation has withdrawn its $22 billion (B24.48bn) bid for DirecTV, leaving the GM-owned network to sign definitive agreements with market rival EchoStar for a merger of the two platforms.
Despite walking away from the agreement, which would have provided Murdoch with not only the final piece in his creation of the Sky Global Networks platform but also an array of sports content including the Latin American rights for the 2002 soccer World Cup, the Australian-born media giant's chances are not quite dead and buried.
The agreed merger between EchoStar and DirecTV will have to overcome substantial regulatory hurdles in US media law, given the two parties' positions as the largest satellite groups in the US, if it is to reach completion.
EchoStar had entered into negotiations with DirecTV some six months ago although it always appeared that, despite its higher bid, it was some way behind News Corporation in the pecking order. The outcome of the long-running bidding procedure can be attributed to the significant losses suffered by Murdoch in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
In the end, EchoStar's cash and share offer, which values DirecTV at a premium of 20 percent, proved to be more attractive to GM and its subsidiary Hughes Electronics which runs the DirecTV platform.
