Now the government has allowed him to take full control of a broadcaster whose revenues exceed those of the BBC.
It also buys out the other shareholders in Sky Deutchland to take full control of the broadcaster.
Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, where son James is chief executive, owns a 39.1% stake in Sky which effectively gives it control of the broadcaster.
Pro-Gbagbo forces retain control of state broadcaster RTI, which came back on air on Friday after heavy fighting took it down, showing pro-Gbagbo rallies and footage of his swearing-in ceremony after the contested November election.
The decision to show live bullfighting comes after the conservative People's party (PP) of prime minister Mariano Rajoy took control of the broadcaster's board and changed its senior management.
More recently, he has needed allies to get approval for a deal involving his effort to take full control of the broadcaster BSkyB, a deal that could be threatened by this controversy.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has offered to give guarantees on the editorial future of the Sky News channel in an effort to head off a Competition Commission inquiry into its attempt to take complete control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
But as the hacking scandal gripped the nation last July, the family bowed to pressure from leading politicians, including Prime Minister David Cameron, and announced that it was withdrawing a $12 billion bid to buy complete control of the broadcaster.
The first question for Prime Minister David Cameron, from Duncan Hames, a Liberal Democrat member of Parliament, raises the question of whether News Corporation is "fit and proper" to own BSkyB, the British satellite network — invoking the language that would allow the government to reject the company's bid to take sole control of the broadcaster.
However, the company has since been beset by further allegations of hacking and corruption, and has led to - among other things - the withdrawal of a bid to take full control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB, the arrest of numerous Sun journalists, and the resignation of Mr Murdoch's son James from several positions in the family business.
