I guess nobody would agree to print a blank page. (NT)

We also are leaders in most every segment in which we operate, from cable television and pay TV, in newspapers and digital media, for the simple reason that we have not been afraid to take risks where others have flinched.

I mention this today not to chest beat or go up the scape. We are offering perspective on how we are approaching our business within this difficult environment. We are not sitting still waiting for things to change or to get better, but acting now when things are perhaps the bleakest. To strengthen our businesses, challenge our assumptions and come up with new approaches that will solidify our leadership positions into the future.

We are putting all of our established businesses through the usual rigorous, strategic reviews to see if old models can be revitalized or new models created. We are making judicious, highly targeted investments to ensure that our developing businesses continue to grow. We have some of the word's most recognized vibrant media franchises in the world today, and now is the time to strengthen these franchises.

We are also working to improve operating margins at all of our divisions by streamlining costs. And as always, we are intensely focused on market share and capturing an even larger share of the markets in which we operate.

So how are we, for example, making targeted investments to better improve our competitive position? Consider SKY Italia; the numbers for the quarter as Dave explained were down year over year. Some of this is timing, some is currency. But what may not be evident from the numbers is, how much stronger our competitive position is becoming from the steps we are taking today.

More significantly, we’re making investments that will both strengthen our relationship with our customers while ensuring we remain market leaders long into the future. For instance, we launched nine new channels in Italy during this quarter, thirteen in the past six months, invested in high-quality original entertainment programming, moved cable up to higher programming tiers and increased our penetration of premium services, the single best hedge against churn.

And this quarter's results actually reflect many growth and retention initiatives. But what’s most encouraging is, despite these investments, we’re still on track to reach 90% of our original subscriber target for the year and a higher level of profitability over last year's record numbers. We are adopting the same strategy at Dow Jones and our other news brands.

Over the past year, the Wall Street Journal has added new pages and launched a luxury magazine that has attracted 30 new advertisers for the franchise. We have also revamped our website, developed mobile application and upwardly revised our pricing policy. I should say strongly revising our pricing policy.

At the same time we realized more than $100 million in cost savings since acquiring Dow Jones last December and continue throughout the coming months. Today, the Wall Street Journal is the only major newspaper to grow its individual page circulation year-over-year, up 2.4%, while nearly every other newspaper in the country is experiencing declines.

And the most recent ABC reporting period, the Weekend Journal became the country's biggest selling weekend newspaper in individually paid sales, surpassing The Sunday New York Times for the first time, and the Wall Street Journal digital network, which includes WSJ.com, MarketWatch.com, BARRONS.com, AllThingsD.com has increased visitor traffic by 76% over the past year.

The same is true of Fox Interactive Media, where we have been investing and expanding MySpace into a global social portal, a destination that is as much about entertainment and life style as it is about social networking. We have launched MySpace music, which is off to a great start, with partnerships with a number of major and independent labels and high profile artists.

With MySpace video we are making deals with film and television producers for original content that will not only drive increased viewer engagement but also deliver enhanced sponsorship opportunities and revenue. And MySpace mobile is a great success story with new device applications now running on the iPhone and Blackberry in a popular website.

Despite a slight downturn in revenue this quarter let us not lose sight that for five years MySpace still leads the social networking category in the US and has become a substantial business that we believe will continue to grow.

Our cable television, our cable division is another leading example of judicious investment. We went from no subscribers to more than 400 million monthly subscribers in under 10 years. Because we launched properties wisely, gave them room to grow and capitalized on their success with new carriage deals. It is all in the US, I might say.

As an illustration, the Big Ten Network which we launched just over a year ago today is profitable and it is broadly distributed in Big Ten markets. And the Fox international channels, which no one even heard of a few years ago continues to expand globally and is becoming one of our fastest and most durable growth drivers. Of course the biggest success story is the Fox News Channel, which has been the number one cable news channel for 28 consecutive quarters and by a big margin.

And we continue to invest in quality movies because we know that in good times or in bad, people want to be entertained and will pay for the experience either in the theaters or at home. So while our quarterly film number is up sharply from last year, there are many reasons to be extremely optimistic about this segment for the rest of the year and beyond. First, we are emboldened by the success of our Christmas Light, particularly the strong performance of Molly and Me, and the Oscar nominated Slumdog Millionaire.

We absorbed their cost in the second quarter, and will now reap the benefits of their box office success. Going forward, we have three sequels to blockbuster films, which give us tremendous confidence; Ice Age 3, Night at the Museum 2, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

One of the reasons we are willing to make investments in our businesses and in quality content is that we have never bought into the pervasive fear that all is lost when the business hits a recession; that advertising is gone, never to return; that consumers won't pay for entertainment.

Sure, there is reason to be concerned that we are running our businesses to respond to their concern. Historically, every time we have seen a recession, mild or major, we have endured this panic and come out better. And every a time the economy rebounds, advertising comes back, usually stronger than before. I am not being flippant. I recognize that we may never return to record levels, but we do believe we can recapture a large percentage of the advertising that does return.

It’s why we continue to believe in newspapers and their brand extensions and television and film as mass media. Quite simply, as long as advertisers need to move product and fill brands, these industries will remain strong and the market leaders will be the strongest.

And when this recession ends, we will be better positioned than anyone else because we have been aggressively building market share in these businesses and we will make no compromise in that sector.

So just don't take my word, consider these facts. The Fox Network, it will win the Season’s for the 5th successive year on the strength of American Idol, which in its eighth season continues to dominate prime time and serve as an effective launch pad for new programs. In fact, American Idols rating exceeds its closest competitor by 69%, in adults 18 to 49.

Our station group, which is the number one U.S. station group in terms of market share. Sure, margins in this business have contracted drastically. Though we continue to best our competition by aggressively cutting costs and expanding into what makes these station franchises and the local news.

Today everything is on the table at the station group. We are looking at new revenue streams, we’re making inroads on the web and we are doing strategic news gathering partnerships.

We continue to gain market share in the newspaper business. Beyond gains of the Wall Street Journal, market share in the UK is up year-over-year with gains in The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and the News of the World. And we are also very lucky that the vast majority of our titles are not at all dependent on classified advertisements.

To put it in perspective, times may be tough right now but if our forecast is correct, we’ll make in excess of $3.5 billion of adjusted operating income this fiscal year. We also always have a strong balance sheet. We are working hard to build our franchises and we are the best run businesses in the media sector. This downturn will eventually end. And News Corporation will emerge better positioned, better capitalized, a better business than our peers.