Murdoch's talent does not lie in starting companies, or creating opportunities. What he does best is pulling together all the threads that make up the global media business and keeping three or four steps ahead of the competition.
With that in mind, his decision to buy Manchester United should not have come as a big surprise. He has long said that sport would be the "battering ram" that would push pay-per-view television.
To Rupert Murdoch's mind, sports are just programmes. It was logical and inevitable that he would buy a major studio, which he did with 20th Century Fox, giving him a vast library of old films and programmes as well as programme-making potential. It was just as logical that he would buy a major club. The purchase of United gives him enormous clout with the Premiership. He is now on both sides of the table when rights are being negotiated; more interestingly it means that whatever happens on the legal front in Britain, Murdoch wins: If the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) rules that the Premiership operates an unfair monopoly and that each club can negotiate its own TV rights - the OFT is considering this at the moment - then BSkyB has unfettered access to the most popular club in the country; if the status quo is maintained Murdoch can still influence the outcome of the rights negotiations, can operate a new venture, Manchester United TV, and sell the club's TV rights abroad.
It also gives BSkyB an advantage in the battle for digital television. BSkyB launched its satellite digital television service last week. ON digital, the other commercial digital consortium, has yet to announce its launch date, but there will be a battle for subscribers and viewers.
Ownership of United gives a distinct advantage to BSkyB; Granada and Carlton, the main shareholders in ON digital, are already rumoured to be looking for soccer teams of their own.
However, Britain is only a small part of Murdoch's empire, and United fits in with his wider plans.
In the US, he is interested in buying a controlling interest in Primestar, a satellite service, which would put him on his way to an American version of BSkyB.
In Asia he already has Star TV, his satellite service. He has not yet managed to get his Star systems into the enormous Chinese market - Manchester United will work very well for him here. It can fill hours of programming that won't annoy the Chinese authorities, giving Murdoch access to the world's largest potential market.
In Europe the Manchester United purchase really comes into its own. Murdoch's giant company, News Corp, is involved in creating a pan-European television group involving the former Italian prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi - who owns soccer club AC Milan - Saudi investor Prince Al Waleed and Germany's Leo Kirch, owner of media group Kirch.
Kirch is in desperate need of cash as it struggles to fund pay-per-view television and publishing projects. The company already failed earlier this year to form an alliance with its rival, Bertelsmann, after the European Commission imposed strict conditions.
Recent reports indicate that a deal is nearly complete to create a huge television group with interests in Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Britain. It sets the stage for a European Super League, with Manchester United, access to the German and Italian markets - and the big names in football pushing TV's next big thing: pay-per-view.
