The Great Debate UK

from Breakingviews:

James Murdoch shouldn’t be kicked out of BSkyB

By Hugo Dixon The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

James Murdoch shouldn’t be kicked out of BSkyB. Some observers want to use the Murdoch clan’s troubles at News International, their UK newspapers company, to run them out of town completely. But BSkyB, the pay-television group, is a separate business. And Murdoch Jr has done a good job first as its chief executive and now as its chairman.

Admittedly, Murdoch Jr hasn’t covered himself in glory in handling the alleged phone hacking and police bribery scandal. As well as being chairman of BSkyB, he has indirect responsibility at News Corp for the UK newspaper arm. He was slow to grip the problems -- not least by allowing Rebekah Brooks, who ran the papers and reported to him, to stay in her position for too long. There are now multiple probes into the saga which could embroil him further. But nothing has yet come out which should disqualify him from his BSkyB role.

It is also true that Murdoch Jr’s original appointment as BSkyB chief executive was nepotistic. But he then proved himself in the role. The business is now generating piles of cash –- in part because of the strategy he pursued. His track record isn’t perfect. But even the main cloud in his tenure -– his swoop on ITV –- had a silver lining. Although BSkyB wasn’t allowed to buy the TV group and lost a huge amount of money in the process, the raid did stymie a rival plan by Virgin Media to create a stronger anti-BSkyB front.

It might further be argued that BSkyB should have a chairman who isn’t also an employee of News Corp, which holds a 39 percent stake. But this needs to be weighed against the benefit in having that shareholder fully engaged in driving performance. What’s more, BSkyB’s eight independent directors, who constitute a majority of the board, have been robust in defending shareholders in the one case where there was a conflict of interest: News Corp’s attempt to acquire the remaining 61 percent. That bid has now been pulled. But there’s every reason to suppose that the independent directors would be equally robust if the furor over the hacking scandal dies down and the Murdochs return with a new bid.

Ofcom summons up courage to tackle BSkyB

- Steven Barnett is professor of communications at the University of Westminster, and a writer and commentator on broadcasting issues.  His first book, published in 1990, was on the relationship between television and sport. The opinions expressed are his own.-

Today is a historic day for British television: the first time in its brief six-year history that the supposedly uber powerful Ofcom has been prepared to flex its muscles to tackle the brute force of BSkyB’s overwhelming dominance in pay television.

It is an issue that has blighted the television industry for years, disadvantaged consumers, put companies out of business, and sent competitors, regulators and politicians running for cover.

Finally, after three years of exhaustive analysis, the regulator has had enough: BSkyB has been ordered to lower the prices at which it sells its premium rate channels to other platform operators such as Virgin and BT.

Consumers may even be able to buy sports and movie channels without being forced to pay for a bundle of countless other unwanted channels.

We can now expect a blaze of carefully orchestrated outrage not just from the hugely influential head of BSkyB itself, James Murdoch, but from its formidable number of friends and allies. For the power and influence which this single corporation exerts on British public and political life is quite extraordinary.

We have already heard the first rumblings from powerful sports bodies, threatening legal action and warning of “serious consequences” for sport.