James Murdoch To Stay On As BSkyB Chairman: Sources

By Georgina Prodhan

LONDON, Jul (Reuters) - James Murdoch is to stay on as chairman of BSkyB after the British satellite broadcaster's board voted unanimously in his favor, two sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Thursday.

"James Murdoch will stay on as chairman," one source said. "He had unanimous support."

Several shareholders had called for him to step down over his role in a phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World, which is owned by News Corp, his father Rupert's company of which he is also an executive.

But the board chose to endorse Murdoch, an ex-chief executive of BSkyB, although it would keep a close eye on external events that might prove relevant to his role, one of the sources said.

"The role of chairman was discussed at some length," the source said, describing the board meeting, which took place on the eve of BSkyB's annual results announcement.

The phone-hacking scandal became a matter of national outrage in Britain a few weeks ago when a murdered schoolgirl's voicemails were revealed to have been intercepted.

The matter, which has raised questions about the conduct of politicians up to the prime minister and police as well as the media, is the subject of a police investigation, a parliamentary probe and a judicial inquiry in Britain.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions

Comments

[jaslyn]

06:40 PM on 07/31/2011

the Murdochs represent humanity at it's worst: money/power chasing fear/hate mongers that do nothing to improve the lives of others. They will get their just deserts.

[Disciple1]

02:01 PM on 07/30/2011

FOOLS.

[Denemator]

01:24 PM on 07/30/2011

Ref heads rolling; YET!!!!

[NYC07]

01:36 AM on 07/30/2011

The "Old Boys Network" never disses one of their own.

[ashabot]

07:58 PM on 07/29/2011

Inbreds. No surprise. They don't dare break the daisy chain.

[HL Mencken]

07:28 PM on 07/29/2011

Of course the Murdock heads aren't going to roll. They'll find a few minions to take the blame, fill that private jet of theirs with Champagne and caviar, fly to Melbourne and spend the night celebrating their victory over the evil forces of liberalism.

[reviewingthesituation]

02:24 PM on 07/29/2011

Ian't this like hiring Gotti Jr. to run his father's business while his old man's being investigated?

[trisha08]

11:14 AM on 07/29/2011

Maybe the board was aware of the hacking. They are probably all dirty too, just like the entire Murdock clan.

[hungryaardvark]

09:47 AM on 07/29/2011

A FOX in the hen house. Literally. Corruption, literally to the core. If the Murdochs want to save FO

A FOX in the hen house. Literally. FOX represents the true image of corruption to the very core of its business operations.

The best thing for the Ms to do is sell their interest in the corrupt enterprise, take the money and live out their lives out of jail as long as they can.

Hey, ehy not? Governor Rick Scott did it in FL, taking the 5th over 70 times in a deposition and buying himself the governorship of Florida in the process.

[Lagsoon]

09:03 AM on 07/29/2011

You mean, didn't roll YET.
Now two senior Newscorp colleagues have accused Murdoch Jr of lying to Parliament, he's being recalled by UK legislators.
It's not over yet for Jimbo. And it's only just beginning for Piers Morgan....
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/hackgate-day-198-does-piers-long-for-those-days-when-he-really-was-the-insider/

[corsair1917]

08:07 AM on 07/29/2011

I bet nothing happens to any of them....
That's how things seem to operate nowadays.

[hollace]

04:36 AM on 07/29/2011

Now there's a stock I wouldn't buy. A man who's face will probably end up on a Halloween mask ...is not a man at all.

[collettethehedgehog]

04:41 AM on 07/29/2011

Good point.

[elamatt]

12:49 AM on 07/29/2011

When all the facts escape, ..... er come out, his head will roll.

[bobbiewick]

08:32 AM on 07/29/2011

What are some of these "facts" that you know about, that the shareholders don't?

[cincinnati]

12:10 AM on 07/29/2011

The Murdoch family is in bed with the worst
of the Neocon's, and they pushed the US
and Britian into the BLUNDER OF IRAQ $$$$$$$

May they get what they really deserve !

[collettethehedgehog]

04:45 AM on 07/29/2011

yeah-where's that dollar a gallon gas you promised the US after the invasion, Murdoch? In a fair Capitalist market he and Trump are just failed businessmen. We need a New Deal just to end the monopolies set up by the unscrupulous louses set free by the deregulation of the last 30 years.

[Tom Sutpen]

05:03 AM on 07/29/2011

Rupert Murdoch promised a-dollar-a-gallon gas?

Incidentally, do you want to know why Murdoch and every other News Corp. executive will get away with this?

Because you're either unable or unwilling to admit that these predations are a natural consequence of Capitalism. You're all for going after individuals, but when it comes to the very system that Rupert Murdoch flourished within, people like you are nowhere to be heard, or you sit there talking about 'deregulation', as if the corruption was somehow imposed from without and wasn't organic to the institution.

[bobbiewick]

08:35 AM on 07/29/2011

Could you please supply a link to where Murdoch promised us this dollar-a-gallon gas you write about?

[darthmaul]

12:04 AM on 07/29/2011

What if things keep getting worse, like the revelation today of more phone hacking. I wonder if the Board would support Mr. Murdoch if he had to handle their business affairs from a jail cell. Of course it won't come to that, but still.....

[bobbiewick]

08:41 AM on 07/29/2011

Kindly don't forget that misdeeds such as phone hacking and bribery also took place at the London Daily Mirror, the Daily Mail and probably the Express. It seems to have been a firmly-entrenched practice in the Fleet Street culture, and hardly limited to Murdoch's papers. I think you'll find that if phones were hacked in America -- which is unlikely since no news stories contained allegedly hacked material -- that it will have been ex-pat British and Aussie reporters who did the hacking.

[Theatrixnyc]

09:32 AM on 07/29/2011

You sound really scared, the longer this drags on.....