News Corp to buy $2B stake in Australian pay TV

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is set to increase its stake in Australian pay TV after Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd. shareholders voted overwhelmingly to sell the company's 25 percent share in Foxtel to the Australian subsidiary of the global media empire.

More than 99 percent of shareholders voted in favor of the sale to News Ltd. at a meeting in the west coast city of Perth on Wednesday, clearing the path for the 1.94 billion Australian dollar ($2.01 billion) takeover deal to go ahead.

Shareholders will receive AU$3.45 per share under the deal.

Consolidated Media, which holds a 50 percent stake in pay TV channel producer FoxSports and 25 percent of Australia's largest television operator Foxtel, will apply for federal approval for the sale on Friday.