MEDIA magnate Rupert Murdoch yesterday raised News Corp's flag in mainland Europe, taking aim at the Italian pay-TV market. Mr Murdoch said he was setting up News Corp Europe, a Milan-based subsidiary that will seek out media investments in continental Europe, including a planned venture with Telecom Italia and leading French TV company TF1.

The move is aimed at filling a geographical gap in News Corp's operations, which span the United States, Asia and Latin America but are limited in Europe to mainly Britain and Germany.

"You cannot globalise your company's activities without having some presence in Europe," said Mr Murdoch.