The purchase of a shares in BSkyB by French Group Vivendi may have turned Rupert Murdoch on a different course. That different course may just mean that Murdoch sees the internet as being more important that digital television. The subscriptions to Sky Digital have been slow in coming and most of them have been conversions from analogue rather than new ones. The revenue from these Sky Digital subscriptions has to be offset against the decision to give away Sky Digital IRDs in an attempt to stir up sales.

At first view it looks like Murdoch is moving into the internet as digital televison falters. But his move could be as profound as owning the conditional access manufacturer for BSkyB and Sky Digital - News Datacom. And it also could be a major defence against a merger of BSkyB with Canal Plus.

The web portal site Yahoo! has entered into a marketing deal with BSkyB's digital television service and BSkyB's free ISP "Sky Now". This agreement appears to be an extension of a deal between News Corp and Yahoo that was concluded earlier this year. Murdoch and News Corp needed a very strong internet brand. Yahoo is one of the strongest and most easily recognised. And it has gigabytes of content.

The new deal is intended to provide new avenues of marketing to the audiences of both services. Yahoo will potentially get access to Sky Digital. Over the next few years, the internet aspect of any digital television services will be the backbone. According to some indications, people with internet access tend to watch less television and videos than those without access. this factor could be critical for Murdoch and News Corp's plans. Integrating internet access as a part of digital television could, if not properly handled, result in less television being watched - since the bulk of BSkyB's revenues would come from sports and movie channels, that could be fatal.

In the early days of Sky Television, Rupert Murdoch made one of his cleverest moves - he retained ownership of the conditional access technology used by Sky Television. Any channel that wished to access the UK market had to either go to News Datacom to get on to the Sky/BSkyB package or go it on their own with a different system. The result was that Murdoch became the gatekeeper for the UK's satellite television business.

Perhaps the internet and digital television are on a collision path, though some consider it a form of convergence. This flurry of internet activity may be Murdoch's realisation of this. By building up a strong internet service, News Corp would strengthen it's hand considerably against any moves in the BSkyB boardroom by pro-Canal Plus players.