• Sunday Times via News.com.au, Wednesday, July 5, 2006 11:02 AM

News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch looks into the rest of the 21st century and sees an interesting and challenging--even threatening--but ultimately liberating mix, reports the Sunday Times. At its core is the Internet and growth in the wireless and cable broadband that allows global downloading of Hollywood movies, and enables even poor children to access the knowledge of the developed world. Murdoch, whose company owns the paper he talked to, is captivated by the Internet--although that does not mean abandoning traditional print and electronic media. "He talks as ever of adding a Polish TV network here, negotiating for something in Turkey there, and of how a license awarded in Serbia will complement a business in Bulgaria," the story says. However, he does concede that he has broken his vow to operate only in countries where he could understand what his companies produced. Asked if the Internet means the end of free-to-air television, he says: "No, that would be going too far"--but a company is "absolutely" at risk if that is its sole business line.

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