Murdoch criticises Virgin, media regulation

Sky CEO James Murdoch has criticised Virgin Media for what he claims is an attempt to turn the cable operator into a "victim".

Speaking to the Telegraph, Murdoch said that Virgin Media's "fairplay" PR campaign "was always part of the plan" and is aimed at turning "a pretty big business in residential telephony and the biggest business, or it was until the last quarter, in residential broadband into a victim to try and get public support."

Murdoch's comments came as part of a wide-ranging critique on the influence of regulation in the UK's media industry. In particular, he branded an investigation into Sky's acquisition of 17.9% in ITV - a move heavily criticised by Virgin Media, then NTL, which was itself seeking a merger with the broadcaster - as "nonsense" that would result in "squandered human enterprise".

"Britain is a great country to do business in but it is also extremely frustrating when the levers of the regulatory burden are so consistently manipulated for competitive ends," he told the paper.

Over the weekend, Sky's financial officer Jeremy Darroch told the Mail on Sunday that Ofcom should investigate whether Virgin should be forced to "open" its network, a suggestion rebuffed by Virgin who said that the matter had already been looked at by the regulator twice.