21st Century Fox Chair & CEO RUPERT MURDOCH "plans to step aside ... as early as this year, handing the title" to his son JAMES, according to sources cited by Keach Hagey of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Rupert, 84, will "stay on" as Exec Chair at Fox. His older son, LACHLAN "will be named" Exec co-Chair. The moves will "further solidify the Murdoch family’s role in running Fox in coming years as the media giant confronts big strategic questions." Among them is "how to boost sagging TV ratings and where to place long-term bets in the fast-changing Web television landscape that is threatening the highly profitable cable-TV business." Fox President & COO CHASE CAREY "will stay on as an adviser" to Rupert Murdoch (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/12). In L.A., James & Faughnder write the Murdoch sons will have to "figure out how to best position the company for the digital age, a realm that Fox has struggled with." The company's cable networks -- its "largest source of profit -- will have to find ways to remain relevant amid cord-cutting by younger consumers and pay-TV providers who want to trim their programming packages" (L.A. TIMES, 6/12).
