• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, November 12, 2009

While he said confidentiality agreements prevent him from offering specifics, News Corp. COO Chase Carey downplayed suggestions that the company dropped out of the bidding for the Travel Channel because the price got too high.

"We prefer to build than buy," Carey said after an appearance at a Dow Jones/Nielsen media conference Thursday.

News Corp. was said to be an interested bidder because of the travel network's potential to dovetail with its National Geographic Channel, both domestically and overseas. Carey said the company had no "interest in buying something" at "retail" that would require a lot of effort to possibly ramp up.

Scripps Networks Interactive bought a 65% stake in the network earlier this month in a deal that is valued at $975 million.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Carey gave an endorsement to Comcast and NBC Universal's reported plans to combine operations -- although he suggested that significant regulatory hurdles remain for the government's blessing. They could offer a yardstick on the Obama administration's positions on media, mergers and acquisitions.

"It makes sense for Comcast," Carey said. "There are real opportunities [in a combination] between content and distribution." However, he added: "I'd be stunned if this is a transaction that doesn't ... end with fairly regulatory baggage."

He doesn't believe the companies will have to sell assets to receive the blessing of the FTC, FCC and Justice Department. But there may be some requirements implemented to ensure that other programmers have fair access to distribution, since Comcast reaches more homes than any cable, satellite or telco TV operator.

As for the marketplace, he says it is recovering modestly. "I don't think anybody is thinking wildly bullish about the future," he said. "But things are stabilizing."

Companies will look for efficiencies and to gain scale, he said.

One of the most troubling issues facing News Corp. is how to resuscitate MySpace, considered a sterling acquisition only a year ago. But its success as a sprawling social networking venture has been stymied, and a new management team is in place.

Carey said MySpace is moving toward more of a niche site, looking to build communities around specific content areas, such as music and gaming, where information can be exchanged and consumers can share experience.

"We're not going back and looking at how do we compete with Twitter and Facebook as a broad-based social network," he said.

Carey also weighed in on whether Hulu.com -- partly owned by News Corp. -- should charge for content. The answer: somewhat.

"A core aspect of Hulu will always be a free experience," he said. "But all these mediums need to develop a subscription model."

A cable-network-style combination of advertising and subscriptions is "critically important," but questions about pricing and the free/pay balance remain that may extend the decision-making process for some time.