National Geographic gives control to FOX

National Geographic Society has given control of its media assets -magazine, cable TV channels, digital properties, maps and publishing operations- to a joint venture led by 21st Century FOX.

Under the $US725m deal FOX will now control 73% of the operation, called National Geographic Partners, with the balance held by the National Geographic Society.

The society first partnered with FOX in 1997 to launch the National Geographic cable channel, and later a fleet of smaller TV channels. Until this week the magazine and other publishing operations had remained fully under the National Geographic Society’s ownership and direction.

While the magazine’s circulation has dropped to 3.5 million US subscribers and an additional 3 million subscribers abroad, the TV channels have grown into the organisation’s most valuable assets, surpassing $400 million last year.

But some at the Society have expressed concern over programmes produced for FOX, including Doomsday Preppers and Banged Up Abroad.

Susan Goldberg, National Geographic’s editor in chief, said, “FOX has acknowledged that they have not always represented the National Geographic brand in some of those programs in a way we loved or even they loved.”

FOX CEO James Murdoch, said: “We believe in the Society’s mission of bringing the world to audiences through science, education and exploration.”

Source: Wall Street Journal, SKY