LONDON (Brand Republic) 鈥 Rupert Murdoch鈥檚 proposed takeover of the US鈥檚 largest satellite TV company, DirecTV, has been accused of undervaluing the company.
Hughes chairman Michael Smith told analysts at a Morgan Stanley conference in New York that News Corporation鈥檚 proposal fell short of the company鈥檚 value.
Murdoch鈥檚 proposed deal would see the creation of a $70bn (£49.12bn) global satellite TV group as Hughes, the General Motors division which own DirecTV, merged with News Corp鈥檚 Sky Global Networks.
Smith said, 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 make any sense to us and we won鈥檛 do a deal.鈥
Smith has launched a takeover bid of his own to challenge Murdoch鈥檚. He is said to have approached a number of companies about taking stakes in Hughes and then spinning it off out of GM. If his bid is successful it will allow him to remain in control of the company.
DirecTV would give Murdoch his first satellite foothold in the in the US and Latin America. It would form a group that would also comprise BSkyB, StarTV in Asia and SkyPerfecTV in Japan.