Despite Murdoch's frequent denials, his move from chief executive of Sky had been anticipated for months. The word was that he was needed in New York to oversee the immersion of the $5bn Dow Jones business into the Murdoch empire, and needed to be at the nerve centre of that empire if he was to imminently succeed his father Rupert, who will turn 77 next March.
But instead of heading west, he is moving east, to News International's Wapping HQ from where he will head News Corp's Europe and Asia regions.
Importantly, he will also continue to oversee Sky as chairman. Although new Sky chief executive Jeremy Darroch is seen as a safe pair of hands, at this critical juncture in Sky's history, when it is facing several regulatory inquiries into its business, if Murdoch Jnr had gone to New York it could have left Sky exposed.
Still, someone had to go and sort out Dow Jones, so the long-serving News International chief executive Les Hinton is trading Wapping for Manhattan, handing the management of the newspaper stable's declining fortunes to Murdoch.
This round of musical chairs came the day after the release of submissions by Sky and its rivals into Ofcom's investigation into the pay-TV market. Sky's response was typically robust, to the point of being fractious. But, you can sympathise with some of its points, which do raise apposite questions.
If Virgin Media and BT so covet Premier League football rights, why didn't these two giants unite to bid for them? Was the unbundling of these rights, allowing Setanta into the market, in the best interests of the consumer? Are Sky's rivals seeking regulatory intervention in lieu of commercial negotiation?
Nevertheless, BT views the opening up of the retailing of pay-TV as indistinguishable from the situation in the telecoms market, where it had to give up a position similar to that occupied by Sky in pay-TV.
At stake is Sky's historic subscriptions pricing model, whereby premium content is bundled with basic packages.
Ofcom could rule as soon as next September. The intervening nine months should be very interesting.
- Colin Grimshaw is the deputy editor of Media Week.