James Murdoch Confirms Resignation from BSkyB Board

James Murdoch will resign as chairman of UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB, the deputy chief operating officer at News Corporation has confirmed in a statement.

"I am aware that my role as chairman could become a lightning rod for BSkyB," he said. "I believe that my resignation will help to ensure that there is no false conflation with events at a separate organisation."

Murdoch, whose father Rupert is chief executive of BSkyB's parent company, US-based News Corp, has been hit hard by the phone hacking scandal that engulfed another News Corp subsidiary, News International.

Rupert Murdoch issued a statement praising his son's "successful" tenure at the top of BSkyB.

"He has played a major role in propelling the company into the market-leading position it enjoys today," said Murdoch senior.

A report by the parliament's select committee for culture, media and sport, the group of MPs that grilled the Murdochs over the numerous allegations of phone hacking and corruption levelled at News International staff, is looming and expected to be published by the end of April.

It is expected to be highly critical of James Murdoch's management of News International. He stepped down as chairman of News International in February.

He has always maintained that he had no knowledge of the scale of wrongdoing by News International journalists, though internal emails seized from the company reveal that he was included in a chain of emails discussing the potential size of the crisis over phone hacking that could swamp the company.

News Corp owns almost 40 percent of BSkyB. Shares in the parent have risen more than 46 percent since the peak of the scandal and the closure of News International's flagship Sunday paper, the News of the World, in July 2011.

Murdoch senior had ambitions of a complete takeover of the company but abandoned the plans after his attempts to increase his stake were referred to OfCom over whether News Corp would be a "fit and proper" owner in the wake of the hacking scandal.