News Corp. trades DirecTV for Liberty's stake

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, News Corp. is poised to buyback its second biggest shareholder's stake in the company in exchange for its 38.6 percent stake in DirecTV. The deal sees News Corp. buying Liberty Media's $11 billion stake in the media giant for News Corp.'s DirecTV assets. While the deal has been under negotiation for some months, sources say it may come to fruition soon. Reports indicate that DirecTV's soaring stock price may be a factor in the prolonged negotiations. It's no secret that most rural telcos view DirecTV as their prime competitor in the payTV skirmishes taking place across the U.S.

For more on the News Corp.-Liberty Media deal:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)