James Murdoch quits as BSkyB chairman

April 03, 2012 06:36 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 04:52 am IST - LONDON

James Murdoch has been facing severe criticism as a result of the phone hacking scandal at the Murdoch-owned News of the World tabloid. File photo

James Murdoch has been facing severe criticism as a result of the phone hacking scandal at the Murdoch-owned News of the World tabloid. File photo

Rupert Murdoch on Tuesday suffered a huge setback in his bid to protect his other media interests from the damaging fallout of the News of the World phone hacking scandal as his son and heir apparent James Murdoch was forced to resign as chairman of the British satellite broadcaster BSkyB (popularly known as Sky TV) saying that he did not want its interests to be “undermined by matters outside the scope of this company”, a reference to the controversy over his role in the hacking row.

“I am aware that my role as chairman could become a lightning rod for BSkyB and I believe that my resignation will help to ensure that there is no false conflation with events at a separate organisation,” he said in a statement.

He will remain on the board of BSkyB as a representative of News Corp, his father's New York-based company which has a 39-per-cent stake in Sky.

The announcement followed growing pressure from News Corp shareholders concerned that the widespread criticism of his handling of the hacking scandal, particularly the accusation that he misled MPs over his own role, made him unsuitable to head the organisation.

The report of a high-level parliamentary committee, due out soon, is expected to reject his claims that he was not aware of the full scale of the hacking scandal.

This is the second important position Mr. Murdoch has lost in a space of a few weeks. Last month, he was forced to step down as executive chairman of News International, publisher of the defunct NoW, following fresh allegations of a cover-up. At the time it was stated that he was stepping down to play a bigger role in the company's television business which includes Star TV and the Sky network.

Tuesday's developments mean that his father's ambition to seize full control of Sky by acquiring the remaining 61 per cent of its shares may never be fulfilled. Barely a few months ago he came close to pulling it off but the deal was blocked following the NoW row.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.