News Corp. Plans to Compete for Broadband

One thing seems to stand in the way of Rupert Murdoch's march toward a broadband empire: the broadband network itself.

This BusinessWeek article outlines his plans to compete with cable and telecom "triple play" bundles by updating News Corp.-owned satellite network DirecTV to carry data and voice into subscribers' homes. The challenge? Updating the satellite network to carry faster data in two directions, as cable and DSL networks currently do (and satellite currently does not).

The alternative is to build a Wi-Max network from the ground up, which is cheaper than building a terrestrial broadband network. Murdoch is willing to earmark about a billion dollars for the cause, a necessary investment to fully leverage the Web properties he recently acquired, including MySpace, and the launch of Fox Interactive Media.