News Corp says the pending sale of Fox Family to Walt Disney has "zero implications" for its talks to buy DirecTV.
As 49.5-percent owner of Fox Family Worldwide, News Corp would get about half of the US$3 billion in cash that Disney is expected to pay for the family of cable channels.
But that money would not be used to help finance an eventual purchase of Hughes, a unit of General Motors, by News Corp, according to a source familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Instead, News Corp, which is controlled by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch, would put up its own satellite TV assets to pay for the deal, with other equity partners providing cash in any deal that gets negotiated, the source said.
A spokeswoman from General Motors declined to comment on developments for News Corp.
"We are in discussions with News Corp and we're making pretty good progress in those discussions," said GM spokeswoman Toni Simonetti.
"Today's actions, we're not involved in those....We're just working on toward our own transactions."
Last month, Hughes Electronics attributed a shortfall in new subscribers in part to the slow US retail market, but also to the distraction of merger talks.
Satellite television service EchoStar Communications had also expressed an interest in buying DirecTV, but has reportedly pulled those plans.
