Independent non-executive directors Allan Leighton, chairman of Royal Mail, and Gail Rebuck, who heads publisher Random House, will meet the National Association of Pension Funds and the Association of British Insurers to press BSkyB's case for the new CEO.
The two shareholder groups have been among the most vocal with their concerns about the appointment of Rupert Murdoch's son to the post vacated by Tony Ball, and their members account for about 40% of BSkyB's shares.
A numbers of investors have indicated that if they do not get reassurances about the wisdom of father and son being chairman and chief executive of a large publicly owned company, they may vote against the 30-year-old's appointment at BSkyB's annual general meeting on November 14.
Standard Life and Barclays Global Investors are among the institutional investors who expressed dismay about the appointment.
The AGM is set to be the scene for further shareholder protests, as influential US advisory agency Institutional Shareholder Services has advised its clients to vote against the re-election of Lord St John of Fawsley, the head of the CEO nominations committee.
Meanwhile, James Murdoch is attempting to settle into his new job, and yesterday met BSkyB executives and investors including Fidelity, which led the recent coup to have Carlton chairman Michael Green ousted from the merged ITV.
Murdoch told the Financial Times: "One of the first things I'm doing is trying to meet with a number of our shareholders and start a dialogue and listen to their concerns. Now this has happened, I intend to explore with them the concerns they have."
He added: "My job, in addition to rolling up my sleeves, getting stuck in and working with the management team, is going to be about communicating with shareholders."
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