Sky shareholders will now be able to buy back 5% of its shares, which will take News Corp's stake in the broadcaster from 37% to over 39%.
The scheme was approved despite stiff opposition from institutional investors including Legal & General, which voted against Sky's buy-back proposal.
However, the scheme will not continue past 2006, Sky confrmed today.
Jacob Rothschild, BSkyB deputy chairman, told shareholders at the satellite broadcaster's annual meeting today that the company would not be seeking to extend the proposed share buy-back scheme beyond the current financial year.
"We have reflected on their concerns and we continue to believe it's appropriate to seek authority this year, but we're not going to be proposing a new buy-back authority next year," he said.
The buy-back resolution was put to shareholders at BSkyB's annual meeting today.
News Corp needed approval from Sky shareholders to take part in the buy-back because its shareholding is above 29.9% and any increase would trigger an automatic bid for the company due to Takeover Code rules.
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