Carey resigned in January after DirecTV's owners General Motors decided to proceed with a bid from rival US satellite TV firm EchoStar. The EchoStar bid failed finally last week after becoming mired in regulatory hurdles.
Murdoch revealed last month that he was preparing a new bid for DirecTV, almost a year after he lost out at the 11th hour to the bid from EchoStar. The News Corp chairman said that, should General Motors sell its shares in Hughes, he would be interested in buying them.
Carey was not only the Sky Global chief, the unit which includes BSkyB and Star TV in Asia, he was also Murdoch's third in command. He left just two months after the media giant saw its satellite ambitions stall with the failure of its bid for DirecTV.
His possible return was flagged by the Wall Street Journal, which said that Carey is consulting with News Corp on its new DirecTV acquisition plans and will return if News Corp succeeds. News Corp held a meeting with GM executives yesterday.
Carey was behind a number of important deals for News Corp, including its acquisitions of Asia's Star TV and the Chris-Craft Industries TV stations in the US, which expanded the Fox network.
He first joined Murdoch's empire in 1988 when he arrived at Fox, rising through the News Corp ranks to become chief operating officer of News Corp in 1996. As head of Sky Global, he was responsible for all News Corp's satellite TV businesses, including the UK's BSkyB.
His departure saw Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert and deputy CEO of News Corporation, elected to the board of Fox Entertainment Group.
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