James Murdoch, the soon-to-be CEO of 21st Century Fox, believes India is set to be the single greatest opportunity over the next five to 10 years.

Speaking at the Cannes Lions advertising festival, Murdoch said the country was entrepreneurial and theres a huge appetite for media and entertainment and an explosion of internet growth.

India, where Fox owns Star India, forms the companys biggest business in Asia, and while Murdoch acknowledged it had its ups and downs over the years, he said: India is an emerging superpower — an extraordinary place to do business.

Earlier in his session, Murdoch lauded the Indian streaming platform Hot Star as an exciting new company to emerge from the region. Hot Star lets users watch live TV shows, cricket, and movies for free. 

Murdoch was also grilled on the dynamics of the family-run Fox business. First he was asked whether he and his father, Rupert, ever disagree on anything.

Not much, was the response, with Murdoch saying the vision from very early on in the 1980s was very clear: To create incredible, really incredible differentiated content.

He was then asked what happens when he and his brother Lachlan dont agree. Lachlan Murdoch will soon be at the helm of Fox, becoming co-executive chairman alongside the brothers father.

Murdoch responded: The family is obviously a big shareholder in the business. We are very invested in each others success and its very much a partnership. We see very eye to eye on the business. Its a question of making sure we are all keeping our eyes on the ball and on the goal.

That includes ensuring editorial decisions are not a reflection of the Murdoch familys personal opinions, with Murdoch saying when asked if Fox News right wing politics compare to his own: I dont let my politics get involved in my business.

Beyond Fox, Murdoch also spoke on his views around the wider media industry and the opinions of his that were not shared by other media companies.

He said: In this business, I do think that not enough people are optimistic enough, and enthusiastic enough about the video business. I think actually people like to talk about old media/new media — theres always idea of being this zero-sum game.

Murdoch said only a handful of studios could create high-quality mass-market programming.

When I hear some people in other businesses, and some of our competitors talk, they seem to be very vexed, concerned, and I think the real challenge becomes not how you can adapt to change but how you can really develop a high appetite for change, Murdoch said. Theres a lot of hand-wringing and not enough enthusiasm.

Murdoch said the growth of video has also seen a lot of rebundling in the market — the rise of Hulu and Netflix, for example, rather than the better-known recent trend of unbundling, where cable and TV packages are broken up into smaller parts so consumers can choose a more streamlined set of channels.

I think the streaming business is attractive, Murdoch said. I think youre going to see new bundles emerge, probably smaller in terms of the brands there, and more investment based on fewer brands, higher quality [content]. The real challenge is avoiding getting caught in the middle ground. Not being distinctive enough. Not innovating enough.

Thats part of the reason — despite previously breaking out lots of sub-brands including Fox Reality, Fox Soccer, and so on — that Fox has chosen to focus on five big, distinctive brands (Entertainment, FX, Fox Sports, Fox News, and National Geographic), Murdoch added.

Asked whether Fox may look at different types of bundling, Murdoch responded I think its too early to say but added that the company remained open-minded. He did say, though, that pure à la cart pricing (where consumers pay per channel) was super confusing for customers.

We know bundling will generally drive prices down and drive consumption up, Murdoch said.

Separately, Fox also announced Thursday that the long- time chairman and CEO of the Fox News business, Roger Ailes, has signed a new multi-year contract with the company. He will jointly report to Rupert, James, and Lachlan Murdoch.

Earlier this month it was thought that Ailes had effectively been demoted as part of the companys new management structure because he would no longer report into Rupert — who he has long counted as a close ally — but instead James and Lachlan, who he is reported to have had a fractious relationship with.

In the release, Ailes says: I am grateful to Rupert Murdoch for taking the risk on Fox News to see it become the number one 24-hour news network in America. I look forward to working with Rupert, Lachlan and James to do my part to help bring 21st Century Fox well into the future.

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