"We have under serious consideration plans to consolidate our worldwide satellite platforms and certain related assets under one umbrella entity," the company said in a statement, responding to a Wall Street Journal story describing a major restructuring of the company.

"It is premature to speculate on the final format of this umbrella entity, the makeup of its assets, the identity of its investors or whether the entity will be a public company," the statement said.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Murdoch is planning to overhaul News Corp and create a public company responsible for its global satellite operations.

The daily, citing sources close to the project, reported that the move is in response to America Online's proposed acquisition of Time Warner and to criticism that News Corporation does not have a digital strategy.

Murdoch is betting that satellites will be the main source of broadband Internet access outside the United States, the paper reported.

News Corp would own less than 60 percent of the new company with the rest company from a public offering of stock to investors, the daily reported.

News Corp controls 100 percent of the pan-Asian satellite television provider Star TV, 40 percent of British Sky Broadcasting and minority interests in Japan Sky Broadcasting, Sky Latin America, Primere in Germany, Stream in Italy, and Foxtel in Australia.

The company is notably absent from the US satellite television market.

News Corp

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Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005
The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India.