Fox CEO James Murdoch Planning New Bid For Full Control Of Sky

James Murdoch said that 21st Century Fox is "not happy being a partial shareholder in pan-European pay-TV broadcaster Sky," according to Mark Sweney of the London GUARDIAN. Murdoch, who was promoted to CEO of Fox in June, said not having complete control of Sky is “not an end state that is natural for us.” Fox owns 39% of Sky, which last year saw the U.K. operation pay £6.88B ($10.58B) "to buy out its sister operations in Germany and Italy." However, Murdoch "poured cold water on any near-term move" for Fox to seek to take control of the enlarged Sky business. He said, “Right now, we’re 100% focused on supporting the company to get this integration going and get it done for the business to move forward, so there are no plans on the agenda right now.” Fox was forced to give up on an £8B-plus bid to "take full control of Sky UK" in '11 (GUARDIAN, 10/21).