madcomments

There’s a new Sky Sheriff in town

Posted in Media, Digital, Branwell Johnson, Latest reporters' blogs December 7th, 2007 by Branwell Johnson

Adios James, the Murdoch heir apparently has a new mission and will now leave BSkyB in the hands of Sky’s chief financial officer for the past four years - Jeremy Darroch.

It’s been a torrid four years for Sky but Murdoch (pictured) most definitely made his mark. He has shown passion, brinksmanship, forcefulness and a shrewd eye for the future. He has laid the foundation for Sky to be much more than an entertainment company with just a platform and programming. Sky now has fingers in many tasty pies including broadband.

However, Murdoch junior has left some sticky issues for his successor to untangle. In no particular order… There is the investigation into the holding in ITV, originally taken up as a defensive move to thwart Virgin Media’s designs on the broadcaster; there is the investigation into the pay TV market sparked by complaints by rivals and there is the very public spat with Virgin Media itself which started over carriage fees for some Sky channels.

Darroch, a former group finance director at Dixons Group, is meant to have contributed in a sizeable way to the development of Sky’s strategy but it’s not clear yet how the City will receive him and if he is capable of the charismatic performances James Murdoch delivered to shareholders and, indeed, at industry conferences. Darroch does have the unanimous support of the Sky board and James Murdoch will be non executive chairman.

The next few years are going to be crucial in the communications, television and telecomms arena and the companies and names with which we are familiar now, from ITV to AOL, may not be there, or may exist in a very different form. But Sky looks a safe bet for the long haul if present distractions can be dealt with swiftly.

To read the news story on Murdoch’s departure, go to mad.co.uk