James Murdoch Steps Down From British Broadcaster

By JOHN F. BURNS
NYT

LONDON — BSkyB, the British satellite broadcaster partly owned by the News Corporation, said on Tuesday that James Murdoch had resigned as chairman to shield the company from the phone hacking scandal engulfing his family’s British newspaper group.

BSkyB said Nicholas Ferguson, the deputy chairman, had been named to succeed him.

Mr. Murdoch will continue to hold a seat on the board. But by relinquishing his position as the head of BSkyB, one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative television properties in the Murdoch stable, Mr. Murdoch, 39, appeared to be shedding one of the most important portfolios in the newly focused role assigned to him only weeks ago.

At that time, the News Corporation announced his resignation from oversight of the company’s British newspapers and said he would concentrate on overseeing the company’s television operations outside the United States.

(More here.)