[jonny_noog]

For better or worse, Fox (ergo, Fox News) is shown just about everywhere, dude. Fox News is shown in Australia as one of the channels included with Foxtel pay TV. I had to go to Papua New Guinea for work last month, turned on the TV at the hotel in Port Moresby and there it was too.

For the English speaking countries at least, I have always assumed that there was a core audience agreeable to the views portrayed by Fox News, hence why it is shown. I'd be happy to be proven wrong though.

[olefoo]

I've always assumed that Fox (News Corp) made it's editorial decisions based on the interests of it's owners. As far as I can tell, it's profitability comes second to it's function of being able to drive the news cycle and move public opinion.

[jonny_noog]

I'm not aware of the profitability of Fox News specifically or any of the Fox related ventures, I not surprisingly have no interest in such things. No doubt what you're saying is not outside the realms of possibility though.

But I guess I figure a safe assumption to make in most situations involving musings on the motives of publicly owned corporations is that money and relatively shortsighted plans to acquire more of it tend to trump most else. e.g. Foxtel in Australia shows John Stuart and Stephen Colbert most weeknights. Not I suspect, because the execs at Fox agree with their POV but because there is an audience for that POV and the execs can spend their money in more places than they can spend their moral conviction in their position on the political spectrum.

[jimbokun]

"As far as I can tell, it's profitability comes second to it's function of being able to drive the news cycle and move public opinion."

I would think these two goals are very well aligned.