News Corp Talks With Telecom Italia Called Off

News Corp has broken off talks with Telecom Italia…”Murdoch wasn’t pleased that former Telecom Italia chairman, Marco Tronchetti Provera, disclosed details of a possible share swap to the government, the person familiar with the matter said.” The swap would have involved News Corp taking a stake in Telecom Italia while selling its satellite TV company Sky Italia to the operator, but thinks it would be better for Sky Italia to remain independent. Telecom Italia had also asked for “exclusive Italian distribution rights media content produced by News Corp”, which Murdoch didn’t want to grant. However, TI will still distribution 20th Century Fox films.
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