Inside Rupert’s Big Aussie Sale: Murdoch smuggles Foxtel – and its government grants – out of the country

Foxtel is a monopoly. It is controlled by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and operates with the privilege of a government licence. But this privilege, and its attendant freebies, have not stopped Murdoch’s News Corporation from smuggling Foxtel out of Australia to a mysterious entity in the secrecy jurisdiction of Delaware.

Keeping tabs on this breathtaking chutzpah of the Murdoch clan:

• News Corp wins Pay TV licence for Foxtel.
• Foxtel makes billions in profits.
• Pays almost no tax.
• Is allowed to take over rivals such as Austar to entrench its monopoly.
• Is given government grants without reasonable explanation.
• News Corp then quietly shifts it overseas.

This sheer brazenness of Rupert Murdoch – or perhaps it is his son Lachlan reshaping…