By Stephen Brook: The BBC Worldwide chief executive, John Smith, has become the first executive at the corporation to support Rupert Murdoch’s plan to charge for online content. Smith, who runs the BBC’s commercial division, which includes magazines such as Top Gear and Radio Times and licenses BBC hits such…

Rupert Murdoch promised his shareholders when News Corp (NYSE: NWS). acquired Dow Jones that the company’s content was ripe for premium products—and execs have been signaling for months that something was on the way from the Wall Street Journal. Turns out the first entry—and the only coming in 2009—is a…

It’s been in the chase for some time, but now Disney-owned ESPN (NYSE: DIS) has finally got its hands on lucrative English Premier League soccer TV rights for the next four years. The broadcaster has long wanted to extend its footprint in the UK and Europe—and it was handed the…

Thirty-six-year-old James Murdoch only stepped up to be a News Corp (NYSE: NWS) exec 14 months ago; now he’s being touted as the “likeliest” successor to his father’s deputy, outgoing COO Peter Chernin. Australian Associated Press (AAP): “Market speculation centres on James, who is in charge of the businesses in…

Pretty soon, everybody will be offering a subscription music service. Latest is BSkyB; it’s secured Universal’s Total Music repertoire (which includes Amy Winehouse) for a new launch that will allow unlimited MP3 downloading and on-demand streaming for a monthly subscription in the UK and Ireland. And it’s starting a new…

At the Monaco Media Forum this weekend, BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) CEO James Murdoch was interviewed on stage in an engaging session, where he touched on a broad range of issues. Among them, BBC, and the continued role of a public sector broadcaster in UK. He had some choice words for…