News Corp. plans to expand James Murdoch’s role to encompass running the Fox broadcast networks, FX cable channel, regional sports networks, Fox International channels and National Geographic channels, according to news reports.
The
Los Angeles Times
noted
that these are some of the media conglomerate’s most profitable assets. News Corp.’s Fox News Channel is not included in the networks that Murdoch will run.
Peter Rice, head of News Corp.’s Fox Networks Group, will report directly to James Murdoch rather than to News Corp. COO Chase Carey, as he does now, the
LA Times
article said.
The
Financial Times,
which first reported the news,
noted that
Murdoch had wanted his expanded role to be announced in July, when Rice was promoted to run Fox Networks. News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, James’s father, and Carey overruled him, the
FT
article said.
Meanwhile, the U.K.’s communications watchdog, Ofcom, harshly criticized James Murdoch’s response to the phone-hacking scandal at News Corp.’s U.K. newspapers.
A separate
LA Times
report
said:
The agency said [Sept. 20] that James Murdoch “repeatedly fell short of the conduct to be expected of him as a chief executive officer and chairman” of News International, the British arm of … News Corp.
Ofcom found that British Sky Broadcasting, the satellite TV network in which News Corp. holds a 39.1% stake, remains a “fit and proper” holder of a broadcast license. Despite its criticism of James Murdoch, the agency said there was no definitive evidence that he deliberately engaged in wrongdoing. (Sources:
Los Angeles Times,
Sept. 20, 2012 and Sept. 21, 2012;
Financial Times,
Sept. 21, 2012.)
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