Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp (Sky, Fox, Fox News) has paid for the U.S. Armed Forces Network to air the remaining World Cup games, after reading that FIFA was refusing to provide the games free (AFN doesn’t pay for sports programming, instead depending on it being offered to them by the broadcast outlets.)
Say what you want about the man and his company, but he deserves credit for doing something nice for the men and women of our armed forces.
OK then, I will: he is not going it because it’s “something nice for the men and women of [y]our armed forces”. If he didn’t think there was a dollar return on it, he would not be doing it, I promise you.
I must admit that was my first thought too.
A good deed, even with an ulterior motive, is still a good deed. Karana knows the people overseas deserve a diversion, and Murdoch provided one at no cost to the recipients.
Not really. I think at that point it is just “self interest which happens to also benefit someone else”.
I don’t see how he’s going to make money on it. AFN doesn’t carry advertising, so it’s not like he’s going to be selling ad time or anything. I think he’s quite possibly doing something selfless.
To-may-to, To-mah-to. More goodness existed in the world after he did it than before, and at least he did something.
Well, no, he hasn’t.
This is a donation to Armed Forces Radio. A tax-deductible donation.
So it’s the rest of us taxpayers who are really the ones who paid for this.
Hell, he let those Simpson’s episodes with him in them go, he’ll always have my respects for that. (“Hey, I own twenty percent of that network”).
Hell, he let those Simpson’s episodes with him in them go, he’ll always have my respects for that. (“Hey, I own twenty percent of that network”).
Agreed; if, as an alternative to providing broadcasting this content to the armed forces, it was more profitable (and was legal) to sell their kidneys, he’d probably do that instead.
Sorry, don’t know what happened there. Mod, delete please?
From what I had heard earlier Murdoch didn’t really pay anything for the rights. He simply included AFN in another deal he brokered for the Italian rights because he wanted the services to have access and he held all the cards.
And thus we have the reason capitalism wins over communism for making people happy. 
sigh
Is it financially better to incur a loss that’s tax deductible, or not to have the loss in the first place?
Do you believe that “tax deductible” means it costs him nothing?
Do you understand the difference between a tax deduction and a tax credit?
Are you sure it’s deductible for someone in Murdoch’s tax bracket?
It appears that he is getting a tax credit for the cost of the feed that he was paying for anyway. “Donating” it to AFR allows him to claim it twice, once as a legitimate business expense and once as a donation to AFR.
IIRC, US corporations cannot be in a tax bracket in which they do not get a deduction for charitable donations.
Bricker, any problems if I use that as a sig-line?
For those of you playing along at home, the “tax deduction” argumeny holds no water. It’s not like he pays “X” forthe rights, and then gets an “X”-shaped tax break!
-Cem
Doesn’t showing soccer to US armed forces count as Cruel and Unusual Punishment?