Jon Stewart and Bill Maher square up to Rupert Murdoch over Time bid

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/jul/23/rupert-murdoch-jon-stewart

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Two of America's most popular TV iconoclasts - Jon Stewart and Bill Maher - have shown their concern about Rupert Murdoch acquiring Time Warner.

It is assumed that should Murdoch overcome Time Warner's defence he will have to sell off CNN because it competes directly with Fox News.

So Stewart, on his Daily Show, launched a fake Kickstarter campaign to raise $10bn in order to buy CNN, even creating a spoof website called Let's buy CNN.

In typical Stewart fashion, he managed to poke fun at both Murdoch and CNN, as the above YouTube clip shows. He is safe from Murdoch's expansion because his show is aired by Comedy Central, which is ultimately owned by Viacom.

By contrast, Bill Maher's opposition to Murdoch's takeover was more heartfelt because his show is broadcast on HBO, a subsidiary of Time Warner.

Writing in the Hollywood Reporter, the host of Real Time With Bill Maher says: "To no one's surprise, I'm against Fox taking over Henhouse. I mean, Time Warner."

After a riff on the "sickness" of capitalism's demand for ever-bigger big business, he writes: "There's a terrible price to pay for this. (I mean besides the terrible price I personally will pay when Rupert takes over HBO and my show becomes Paste-Eating Time With Steve Doocy)."

Let's hope not, Bill. I guess you should start donating to Jon's fund ASAP.