Murdoch Sending Mixed Signals About Satellite TV.

No media titan is a bigger advocate of direct broadcast satellite TV than News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch. So why was Murdoch selling much of his satellite TV investment in the United States two weeks ago?

Therein lies a story.

Murdoch has tried to ring the globe with satellites

But Murdoch has met defeat in the United States. In intermittent efforts over 16 years, he's been stymied by technology and his company's once-precarious financial condition. In the end, he was too late getting to the market where others, such as EchoStar communications Corp., have forged ahead. He sold his DBS assets to EchoStar in June, in exchange for a passive stake in his one-time rival.

News Corp. has now made a profit from its EchoStar holdings by selling 40 percent of its 27.5 million shares last week for an apparent gain of more than $500 million.

News Corp. may be kicking itself for selling EchoStar shares at $71 on Dec. 3 because the shares soared to a high of $90 on Dec. 7, before closing at $89.88.

At any price, this isn't how Murdoch intended to prosper in the U.S. satellite-TV business, which is capturing the fancy of investors and consumers.