James Murdoch Set For Top Job At Fox Networks Group

James Murdoch is set to receive responsibility for News Corp’s US television businesses, the Fox Networks Group, reports The Financial Times.

Murdoch Junior - already deputy chief operating officer of News Corp - will now oversee the group, which includes national Fox network and cable channels such as FX and National Geographic. The news comes soon after Britain's media regulator criticised the younger Murdoch for failing to uncover the hacking scandal at his father Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, a debacle that is still being resolved today. This is a controversial step, given Murdoch’s recent failings, and Ofcom - The independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries - had been reviewing whether pay-TV giant BSkyB, was "fit and proper" to hold a broadcasting license in the wake of the recent hacking trial, which claimed British paper, The News of The World in its wake.

In a report, Ofcom said its former chairman James Murdoch "repeatedly fell short" of his responsibilities as executive chairman of News International. "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," it said. In a statement, the company recognised this report: “We are pleased that Ofcom recognises BSkyB as a fit and proper holder of a broadcast licence,” it stated.