Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) today announced that SKY Italia, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation (NYSE:NWS), has deployed Harmonic's market-leading compression and IP-based statistical multiplexing solutions for its direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service.

Business News IN BRIEF --James Murdoch, the son of the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, will receive a basic salary of $3.4m (1.7m) and could earn a further $16m in bonuses running NewsCorp's Asian and European operations.

RUPERT Murdoch's News Corp saw its profits edge up to Pounds 416m in the last three months of 2007 thanks to bumper ratings at Fox News. The channel pumped up the fees it charges cable operators for carrying its news, helping revenues rise 9.5pc to Pounds 4.3bn in the period.

By Stephen Foleyin New York James Murdoch, the 34-year-old son of the septuagenarian mogul Rupert Murdoch, is giving up the day-to-day running of BSkyB to take up a new role at his father's side in the family's News Corporation media empire.

By Peter Kiefer For those keeping score in the duel between the onetime friends and now competing media barons Rupert Murdoch and Silvio Berlusconi: Murdoch is slightly ahead on points but Berlusconi might still pack a punch.