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Sky ruled fit for broadcast licence

08:05, Sep 20 2012

 

Broadcaster Sky was found to be "fit and proper" to hold on to its broadcasting licence after its parent company was embroiled in the phone-hacking scandal.

Media regulator Ofcom carried out the review of Sky after News International was forced to shut the News of the World in the wake of the scandal.

Ofcom concluded that Sky was fit and proper to hold its licence although it said that BSkyB's former chairman James Murdoch's conduct as chief executive of News International repeatedly fell short of the standards expected.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation owns a 39% stake in BSkyB while James Murdoch, his son, was chairman of the broadcaster before he stepped down earlier this year in a bid to distance the company from the scandal.

Ofcom said there was no evidence that James Murdoch knew of widespread wrongdoing at the News of the World or that he was complicit in a cover-up.

However as a company director who has a duty to supervise, Ofcom was critical of Mr Murdoch's failure to uncover wrongdoings earlier.

It said: "We consider James Murdoch's conduct, including his failure to initiate action on his own account on a number of occasions, to be both difficult to comprehend and ill-judged."

Sky welcomed the licence decision and said Ofcom was right to conclude that it was a fit and proper broadcaster.

It said in a statement: "As a company, we are committed to high standards of governance and we take our regulatory obligations extremely seriously. As Ofcom acknowledges, our track record of compliance in broadcasting is good."

Ofcom said it was satisfied that it had considered all the relevant evidence but would consider any further information as it emerged.

 

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