James Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation’s Europe/Asia division and son of News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch, has taken a hardball approach towards the UK government, after a move to buy out the rest of satellite broadcaster BSkyB (commonly known as Sky TV) (which News Corp already own a controlling 39% of) was denied over fears that News Corp could end up controlling too much of the British media.

Murdoch has retaliated by suggesting that if UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom blocks its £7.8 billion ($12.5 billion) bid for BSkyB, then the media giant will look to take their business to other, more ‘welocming’ markets, such as Italy, India, New Zealand, or Germany, all of which have a (News Corp part-owned) Sky-branded network. The bigwigs at newscorp have claimed that the UK government must now decide whether it is willing to risk ‘jeopardising an £8 billion investment in the country’.

Murdoch stated: “From India to Italy and to Germany, countries are becoming more welcoming of investment and more welcoming of what we can bring”.

UK Business Secretary Vince Cable, was the one who referred the takeover move to Ofcom, (UK equivalent of the FCC), over predictions that News Corp would then have ’too much control’ over British media as a whole. Brussles (Belgium)-based Competition Commission is also investigating News Corp’s move that would see it pick up the remaining 61% of BSkyB, with a decision postponed until mid-2011. News Corp’s shares took a monumental rise after the revelations up to 726p.

Media analysts for the BBC (public-service broadcaster, and a major rival of Sky) commented on the news: “BSkyB and News Corp execs including James Murdoch are always very aggressive about any regulatory actions and usually just as dismissive. This is the normal approach. It doesn’t have any bearing on the specifics of Cable’s referral. What Murdoch’s saying is that unless you let us do what we want to do, there’s a risk we’ll go and do it somewhere else”.

Murdoch, along with his father and their company, will probably now be anxious as to the result of the investigations by regulators, while also angry at the block. However, the decision-makers may not be best pleased with their ‘bullying tactics’, and the ownership of BSkyB is likely to be in limbo for a while yet.

Crazy Matt Cazzy into all things hi-tech, gizmos and gadgets. If its just out, i want it. Loves watching tv on every device ever invented that can handle it

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