Murdoch chief threatens to sue BBC

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Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is considering taking legal action against the BBC to stop it showing programmes like The Simpsons and Buffy the Vampire Slayer following the public broadcaster’s change of satellite distribution, reports Kate Bulkley in The Media Guardian. Peter Chernin, chief operating officer News Corp, has condemned the BBC's decision to un-encrypt its channels as "wrong" and said he is considering all potential options. "We don't believe the BBC has the right to provide an unencrypted signal with our programming," he said. "We are not happy and we are also sort of shocked. The BBC is not some renegade company. It's a public trust in a society that does have copyright laws and on top of that it is one of the great content producers. We think that what they are doing is wrong," he added..News Corp is furious with the BBC because its channels are now available to potentially millions of ex-pats in Spain, France, and elsewhere in Europe. Speaking at the Mipcom TV market where he was honoured as Personality of the Year, Chernin said:

"We could stop selling to the BBC, or ask for an injunction - or we could sue them." He continued: "The BBC is one of the greatest content producers in the world and should be as concerned about the protection of content and the legal transmission of content as anyone in the world - and we think they are taking a short-sighted view on this."

Other studios have also expressed concern over the BBC’s decision to go unencrypted. Sony, which owns the Columbia Tristar studio, has insisted on damages if there is any spill-over onto the continent in its new TV deal with the BBC to screen the Stephen King series Kingdom Hospital.

Under the deal with Sony, the BBC must take steps to stop any "unauthorised re-transmission of its signals" and must also pay for any damages Sony might suffer if the BBC's signals make it impossible for Sony to sell its programmes in Europe.

The BBC began transmitting all of its channels unencrypted and in digital from a UK satellite a few months ago as a way of cutting £121 million in costs it was paying to BSkyB to distribute its channels using Murdoch’s encryption technology.

Meanwhile BSkyB has installed James Baker – again - at the head of Sky One after Sara Ramsden parted company with the station on Friday. Mr Baker, who has been at BSkyB for seven years and who ran Sky One for several years in the 1990s, arrives at a time when ratings for the channel, best known for Ibiza Uncovered and The Simpsons, have fallen amid increasing competition from ITV2, E4 and BBC3

In the first three weeks of September, Sky One had its three consecutive lowest weekly audience share figures in nine years.