General Motors, Hughes Electronic's former owner, was in long talks with Newscorp to sell Newscorp. Newscorp played hardball and proposed a lower price than GM was willing to sell for. Newscorp knew that Echnostar was the only other bidder in serious competition. After GM withdrew from the Newscorp talks, they were approached by Echostar and both companies reached a merger deal. Unfortuneately for them, the FCC rejected the merger on grounds that Echostar/DirecTV would have a monopoly on consumer satellite TV in the USA. Murdoch stepped back in, this time making an even lower bid and GM was forced to take it. The Hughes stock has been dropping over the years due to speculation over possible spin off and sales of the company (I can attest to this as a former Hughes employee - my company stock was pretty much worthless by the time I left - right before the merger.) Newscorp has a huge worldwide pressence, but until the Hughes/DirecTV "merger" had no business in the USA other than the Fox channels.

Newscorp does not own Echostar (yet?).