Watchdog clears Sky over phone hacking

Britain’s media regulator gave pay-TV firm BSkyB a clean bill of health yesterday, saying there was no evidence it was linked to a phone hacking scandal which engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, its largest shareholder.

However, Ofcom criticised Mr Murdoch’s son James for failing to investigate allegations of criminality at the group’s newspapers properly, describing his failure as “both difficult to comprehend and ill-judged”.

Ofcom said BSkyB was “fit and proper” to hold a broadcasting licence and avoided ruling that News Corp should sell some of its near 40% holding.