During the charm offensive with shareholders over James Murdoch's
appointment as chief executive of BSkyB, Rupert Murdoch's son
suggested that he would like to move the company away from its
go-it-alone mentality and into the mainstream "community"
of the British broadcasting industry. Four months into his tenure,
has anything in fact changed?
Murdoch junior took over at a point where BSkyB had passed
the 7-million subscriber mark and revenue was expected to grow
to £3.6-billion for the full financial year, which more than
matches that of the BBC and is double that of ITV plc. ‚
but with nothing like the regulation surrounding the
terrestrial broadcasters.
Yet only last August the companyís previous chief executive,
Tony Ball, unveiled a three-point plan to rein in the "cash-stuffed"
BBC, suggesting at the Edinburgh International Television Festival
that the BBC should be forced to sell off its most popular TV
programmes such as EastEnders and be banned from buying imports,
including Hollywood blockbusters.
Sky described the plans as "firing the first round"
in the debate over the renewal in 2006 of the BBC's charter. Ball
suggested the BBC received too much public money. "How much
public service broadcasting is needed?" The BBC's reaction
at the time was that the comments should be seen in the context
of Rupert Murdoch's long and hostile campaign against it.
