John Malone has never made a secret of his regret that selling his TCI cable business in the late 1990s made him less of an operator in the media business. Since then, his Liberty Media group has been regarded as more of an investment vehicle, aimed at cashing in various extremely profitable investments – such as his stake in News Corp – and paying as little tax as possible.

Whether Mr Malone uses a controlling stake in DirecTV to again become a big hitter in the American media market remains to be seen.