James Murdoch Bskyb Board Faces, Doubt About Their Role

James Murdoch could survive a meeting of directors of BSkyB on Thursday despite the doubts multiply from other sectors about whether his role in a wiretapping scandal is not incapable of being president of the satellite network.

Be the first meeting of the board of BSkyB since the crisis forced News Corp to close the News of the World, leaving a supply of 12,000 million for the chain and hold a hearing in Parliament that James and his father Rupert answered questions from lawmakers.

Besides being non-executive chairman and former executive of BSkyB, James Murdoch is COO of News Corp, which has 39 percent of BSkyB, as the tabloid News of the World, which is at the center of the scandal.

Some shareholders demanded his resignation to avoid conflicts of interest and fear of the repercussions of an event that took on new dimensions this month, when it was revealed that the newspaper put in the phone of a teenager murdered.

But so far no sign that the board of 14 members, eight of whom are independent, plan an uprising on Thursday. The Guardian reported Wednesday that Murdoch was supported by the independent director Nicholas Ferguson.

One of the top 30 institutional shareholders in BSkyB said Thursday on condition of anonymity that he saw no dramatic change in investor sentiment towards James Murdoch, whose work in the chain has been described as very good.

“I have not heard anything to support this assumption groundswell of feeling against Murdoch” he said.

“We’re not against management but we are not wildly pro-management. We do believe that the company is very good. That’s the key for us,” said

But the crisis is not over yet, says Richard Levick, chief executive of Levick Strategic Communications has advised companies and countries in cases such as the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay and the recent collapse of Wall Street.

“If you look at the arc of a crisis, the worst days have not passed. It parallels in many respects to Watergate. Watergate took 18 months to explode. It seems that this is such a prolonged crisis,” he told Reuters.

James Murdoch still has many questions to be answered by a scandal in which at least 10 people, including former prime minister’s spokesman David Cameron, Andy Coulson, have been arrested so far this year.

The Murdoch will face an investigation ordered by Cameron, which formally began on Thursday. The prime minister’s own image was affected by their support for Coulson.