Rupert Murdoch rallies media firms to battle against Amazon & Netflix
Antipodean media magnate Rupert Murdoch has issued a rallying call to the wider industry, calling for unity in a bid to see off the growing might of Amazon and Netflix in the streaming video sector.
Acutely conscious of the long term implications to the established business models of established media giants, not least Murdoch’s own 21st century Fox, Murdoch is seeking common ground for the establishment of a competitor service more amenable to their interests.
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ.D technology conference Murdoch said: “As an industry, we need a competitor - a serious competitor - to Netflix and Amazon.”
Murdoch’s strategy follows the troubled gestation of Hulu, a competitor service he’d backed which has failed to gain traction against its mightier rivals and comes amidst growing expectations that HBO will enter the market with its own internet channel.