Two decades ago Rupert Murdoch was sitting at his desk in Wapping as a financial firestorm engulfed his company. The banks were baying at the door. A lethal mix of over-ambition and heavy investment in the nascent BSkyB had laid News Corporation low. Rupert said to me: "Not sure how this is going to end … just in case, I've paid up my mortgages."

I nodded sagely. But as I wandered down the executive corridor back to my beloved Sun, I literally came out in a cold sweat; if Rupert was going bust, who was going to pay my mortgage?

It will come as a strange concept to the many teachers and social workers who think it too risky even to bring in a bottle of milk that Rupert, 20 years later, is on the verge of the biggest deal of his life, benefiting from the greatest of all capitalist drivers: risk and reward.

There is no question that News Corp's takeover of BSkyB increases Murdoch's power, but the world is already changing. I have just started an online sports channel, and I expect traditional closed media networks to be viewed as quaintly old-fashioned within a couple of decades. Next year Google TV arrives in this country, giving direct access to the online world in your front room. In the US, cable subscriptions are down as 18-30s believe they can access all they need through their iPad or laptop.

Cynical eyebrows were raised when Murdoch gave assurances over the independent future of Sky News. Why? In the two decades he has owned the channel, not one editor or journalist has suggested that he has interfered or even made suggestions about news coverage. How incredible. If you had owned a media outlet for so long wouldn't you have picked up the phone to demand a slot for your favourite project or politician? Be truthful. Had it been me I would have been on the phone every other hour.

Sky is not Fox News and I have my doubts that in leftwing, socialist, clapped-out Britain, the latter would work commercially or audiencewise.

Thank God for the Rupert Murdochs of this world. I wish there were hundreds more in our country. Unemployment would be wiped out at a stroke. At a conference in London recently he used a quote I really love about the lack of business adventure in Britain. He said: "We've got to get rid of the fear of failure in this country. In America, people start things, fail and shake themselves down and start things again. The animal spirit of capitalism is stronger there."

As a tabloid tosspot of some note, I had difficulty understanding the concept of Sky as Rupert slowly explained it. You send a TV signal 92m miles into space to a satellite you have rented. Right. You then fire it back to Earth to a dish the customer has had to buy. Right. Then you charge the customer a load of money to receive the extra television. Right.

I thought Rupert had gone mad and couldn't understand why he was throwing Sun profits at such a barmy venture. I even remember suggesting that to save money he might shut Sky News, as it seemed a waste of space. There was a long silence. The silence was always more worrying than the explosion.

Today Sky is the giant of television. Sure it has the football but it has so much more. Even a cultural philistine like me finds myself drawn to Sky Arts, National Geographic and the History Channel. All have unexpected gems that you cannot find anywhere else.

Why has Rupert a monopoly? Simple: nobody else had the guts, the nerve or the stunning management skill to take on the establishment. When he was losing literally hundreds of millions on Sky, his competitors were delighted. Now he has made the greatest television success in all our lifetimes, they scream foul.

My late father-in-law had an expression that I think appropriate. The winners can smile and losers can please themselves. Rupert must be smiling very broadly today.