Rupert Murdoch's growing porn empire.(Fox News Network L.L.C's license for pornography channels)(Brief article)

Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch (Council on Foreign Relations), whose international holdings include the supposedly conservative FOX News channel, "has been secretly building a stable of wholly-owned pornographic channels for his [British] Sky subsidiary," reported Rupert Steiner of London's The Business on February 12. "The Business has learned that Sky now owns and operates its own pornographic channels--the 18+ Movies section --after years of hosting third-party content only."

Previously, under British licensing roles, Rupert's Sky network was required to provide pore content produced by other networks. Having learned of porn's profit potential, however, Murdoch is developing his own original smut content, as well as "entering into partnerships with companies that broadcast pornographic television channels on Sky, such as Sport XXX Babes, XXX Housewives, and Playboy. Sky has agreed [to] retail distribution agreements with these companies. With Playboy, ...