Twenty-First Century Fox shares jumped in US trading and Sky shares rose in London after sources said both Comcast and Verizon Communications were also interested in buying parts of its studio and TV operations.

HACKERS took control of the Twitter account of FoxNews.com’s political news feed and sent several false tweets saying that US President Barack Obama had been shot dead.

Films and TV shows such as the first series of '24' and 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' are to be offered for download.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has agreed to acquire control of Hughes Electronics Corp and its DirecTV service, America’s largest satellite television provider, in a $6.6bn (€6bn) cash and stock deal.