It is the first time the talks between Murdoch and rival media mogul John Malone, the controlling shareholder of Liberty Media, have been openly admitted.
Greg Maffei, Liberty Media chief executive, said: "We are saying in the marketplace that we may exchange our roughly $11bn (£5.8bn) stake in News Corp for a controlling stake in DirecTV."
Maffei's statement confirms Murdoch is close to deciding that the satellite business is the asset he will sacrifice in order to reduce his rival's influence over News Corp.
DirecTV would join Liberty assets such as shopping channel QVC and the Starz group of subscription TV channels.
News Corp was challenged by Malone two years ago when he managed to double his stake in the company without warning. The company reacted to the threat of a Malone takeover by setting up a "poison pill" defence, which remains in place.
The strategy blocks investors from taking their voting shareholding beyond 15% and existing shareholders with stakes above 15% are prevented from adding to their holdings.
However, this approach has been reported to be unpopular with other News Corp shareholders, some of which may vote against the company's plans to restate the defence at its annual general meeting next week.
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