Investors get tough at BSkyB

BSkyB's independent directors were urged not to wave through the appointment of James Murdoch as chief executive. The National Association of Pension Funds said it had had a 'frank and useful discussion' with the directors.

There are concerns that Murdoch junior is being parachuted in because his father, media mogul Rupert, is chairman of BSkyB, and his News Corp empire owns 35%.

The NAPF is likely to have further talks. Shareholder fears were heightened by a report in The Times (also owned by News Corp) that there have been no internal applicants for the BSkyB job.

This is surprising. Sky's chief operating officer Richard Freudenstein and finance director Martin Stewart have both been tipped as candidates.

The newspaper said James Murdoch was the 'clear favourite' and applications for the job close on Friday. This is swift. The departure of chief executive Tony Ball was announced less than three weeks ago.

Separately, the EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti is likely to tell football's Premier League it must re-tender its £1.02bn contract with Sky because it is anti-competitive.