News Corp. Moves to Shield U.S. Outlets | ESPN Earns Highest World Cup Rating

News Corp. is developing a plan to insulate its American media outlets from the fallout as the FBI launches a preliminary investigation of whether laws were broken on this side of the Atlantic. The company expects to hire an outside public-relations firm to help spearhead that effort and field inquiries involving Fox News, local Fox stations, and the New York Post, according to the Daily Beast.

ESPN earned an 8.6 overnight for Japan's win over the U.S. in the FIFA Women's World Cup Final yesterday, marking the net's best overnight ever for a World Cup game, men or women. ESPN's previous high for any World Cup match was a 4.4 overnight for U.S.-Algeria in last year's men's World Cup pool play. The previous high for a women's game was the '99 U.S.-Brazil semifinal. Baltimore topped all U.S. metered markets for yesterday's match with a 12.3 local rating, followed by San Diego (11.8), West Palm Beach (11.7), DC (11.5) and Norfolk (11.1), reports Sports Business Daily.

The Federal Communications Commission has revived its audits of cable and satellite operators for compliance with ad limits in kids shows, writes MultiChannel News. Unlike broadcasters, who have to have self-reported violations of ad limits through the mechanism of license renewals, cable operators have no similar mechanism and have never self-reported any violations. The Act limits ads to of 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12 minutes on weekdays.