A growing unease at the way the recruitment process is being handled was compounded when Lord St John of Fawsley, the board executive overseeing the task, cancelled a meeting with institutional investors to be held at the House of Commons on Thursday.
The company has assured investors that the job will not automatically go to James Murdoch, but his father, BSkyB chairman Rupert Murdoch, did not help the perceived independence of the search for a new CEO when, in an interview with American investment publication Barron's, he admitted that he is biased but said that James is in the best position to do the job.
"Nobody is more qualified to take over a multichannel platform than James, with the exception of Charles Ergen of Echostar. But, of course, Charlie isn't available," Murdoch said in the interview.
Lord St John, the non-executive chairing the nominations committee, did not give a reason for cancelling this week's meeting. It was to follow a meeting last month at which investors made it clear they would not accept a shoo-in of James Murdoch.
Investors are now considering voting against the re-appointment of James to the BSkyB board as a non-executive director at the annual meeting in November.
BSkyB has used headhunter Spencer Stuart to draw up a list of suitable candidates for the post of CEO. The company has said there are 25 names on the list and a new chief executive would be announced on November 14 at the annual meeting, just two months after Ball resigned.
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