It's hard to believe, but it looks like the Turnbull government is going to get away with its $30 million backhander to Rupert Murdoch.

I know life comes at you fast these days, but it seems odd that the story of the undocumented grant to Foxtel is going to recede into the fog of winter.

That would be a shame. So let's remind ourselves of this delicious little scandal before it disappears down the memory hole forever.

Less than two weeks ago, the ABC made an FOI application for documents relating to a $30 million grant to the pay TV business owned by Telstra and News Corp.

News Corp and Telstra have confirmed they will merge Fox Sports and Foxtel. Jim Rice

The money, to be paid over two years, was to "support the broadcast of underrepresented sports … including women's sports, niche sports, and sports with a high level of community involvement and participation".

The socialist troublemakers at the ABC were presumably hoping to turn up some tasty little nuggets of information about how Foxtel might spend the money and how the decision was reached to fatten his wallet instead of, say, the ABC or SBS, which exist in part to do exactly this sort of work.

Foxtel is a large, wealthy private business, and it did just score a sweet 30 million, so it seems reasonable that they should explain what they intend to do with your money.

But they haven't yet, and seem disinclined to do so any time soon.

The Communications Minister Mitch Fifield mumbled that, "This was a decision of government, announced in the budget as part of the media reform package", which is the equivalent of saying "This was a decision to give Rupert some money, announced in the budget as part of our plans to give Rupert some money."

This just in … Rupe's not short of a quid. Foxtel might be suffering from the arrival of much cheaper and arguably better streaming services such as Netflix and Stan, but the solution to that problem isn't corporate welfare. It's providing a better service at a reasonable price.

Given that Foxtel is something of a black box – billions of dollars flow in, no discernible tax payments leak out – it's unlikely we'll ever know what became of that $30 million.

But it's weird, don't you think, that there's not a single document anywhere in Canberra that explains how they came to trouser it in the first place.

Stan is owned by StreamCo, a joint venture of Fairfax Media and Nine Entertainment Co. And a clarification: Foxtel is owned by News Corp and Telstra.