Little Murdoch's 'scary' warning to BT

Who's the Daddy?

By Kelly Fiveash • Get more from this author

Posted in Telecoms, 15th September 2006 12:09 GMT

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James Murdoch has put the willies up BT with his don't mess with us, you'll end up "in a scary place" warning.

Quite where this "scary place" can be found is uncertain, but something akin to a walk in the woods. At night time. With only the Murdochs and a shovel for company is one image that immediately springs to mind.

James Murdoch, the BSkyB chief executive was speaking at the Royal Television Society's London conference yesterday where he described telecoms companies as "big beasts", or his obvious rivals in what is an evolving marketplace.

According to Murdoch the television battleground to capture viewers is no longer simply Sky vs. BBC, but that increasingly it will be with broadband providers.

BT has recently announced its intention to move into the broadcasting market as telecom companies, which offer broadband services, continue to expand into providing media content over the internet. In a surprise move earlier this week Telecom Italia teamed up with News Corp to do exactly that.

BT Vision is expected to be launched later this year offering freeview and on-demand services to its broadband customers, which could include a variety of television content and Hollywood films.

Murdoch said: "If BT wants to just give away all of the expensive programming out there, that ends in a very scary place for them. I feel pretty well placed in that mix and in how we see value going forward for our consumers," reports The Guardian.

Meanwhile, Opinion BuzzTracker - the new blog tracking partnership between FoxNews.com and RealClearPolitics.com - will apparently probe the blogosphere flagging up the most popular politics stories in a given 24 hour period.

The official statement reads: "The tool permits Internet users to easily filter through thousands of political news articles and blog conversations to determine the 'wisdom of the crowds' in a continuously updated format."

According to Opinion BuzzTracker the top three blogs today come from RightWinged.com, Ace of Spades HQ and And Rightly So! - all "points of the political compass" covered there then ...

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