News Corp dirty tricks unit targets pay TV rivals - report
Revelations could delay or derail Foxtel-Austar merger, still waiting final approval.
A four year investigation by the Australian Financial Review alleges that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is up to dirty tricks using high tech piracy against News' competitors in the Australian pay TV market.
AFR claims a secret unit of former policemen and intelligence officers within News known as Operational Security crippled the finances of competitors such as Austar, Optus and Foxtel at a time when News was moving to take control of the Australian pay TV industry.
It's estimated the piracy cost them up to AUD$50 million a year, allowing News to bid for pay TV businesses at reduced prices, including DirecTV in the US, Telepiu in Italy and Austar in Australia.
Austar is the subject of a takeover bid by the part-News Corp-owned Foxtel. Today's revelations could delay or derail the already controversial deal, which would see Foxtel's only serious competitor subsumed.
News Corp has categorically denied any involvement in promoting piracy and points to a string of court actions by competitors making similar claims from which it has emerged victorious.
AFR says the issue is particularly sensitive because Operational Security, which is headed by Reuven Hasak, a former deputy director of the Israeli domestic secret service, Shin Bet, operates in an area which historically has had close supervision by the Office of the Chairman, Rupert Murdoch.
The security group was initially set up in a News Corp subsiduary, News Datacom Systems (later known as NDS) to battle internal fraud and to target piracy against its own pay TV companies.
But documents uncovered by AFR reveal that NDS encouraged and facilitated piracy by hackers not only of its competitors but also of companies such as Foxtel, for whom NDS provided pay TV smart cards.
The documents show NDS sabotaged business rivals,fabricated legal actions and obtained telephone records illegally.
NBR staff
Wed, 11 Jul 2018
Wed, 11 Jul 2018
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News Corp dirty tricks unit targets pay TV rivals - report
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