The Competition Commission is to scrutinise News Corp's bid for BSkyB

What does Jeremy Hunt's decision to refer News Corp's bid for BSkyB to the Competition commission mean for Rupert Murdoch's empire?

News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch and his minions, past and present, have become the focus of several stories swirling across the front pages this week.

The resignation of Andy Coulson, Murdoch's former editor at News of the World, pushed Tony Blair's evidence to the Iraq inquiry off the top of the news on 21 January. Coulson's resignation statement explained that allegations about phone hacking were interfering with his job as David Cameron's director of communications. "When the spokesman needs a spokesman, it's time to move on," he said.

Two days later it emerged that Andy Gray and Richard Keys, two high-profile football presenters on Sky Sports, had engaged in sexist off-the-record banter about female football linesman Sian Massey.

Both men, who have worked for Sky Sports since the channel's launch, were removed from presenting duties at the game between Bolton and Chelsea on 24 January. The following day Sky disciplined reporter Andy Burton for comments about Ms Massey. On the same day Andy Gray was sacked.

As it happens, Andy Gray is also part of the phone hacking story. The former Everton footballer went to the high court last week to force private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to reveal the names of News of the World journalists who had told him to hack into his mobile phone.

Declaration of war
On 24 January, The Independent newspaper published an article alleging that Prime Minister David Cameron and James Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch's son and the chairman of News Corporation in Europe and Asia, had attended a dinner in Oxfordshire given by Rebekah Brooks. Ms Brooks is chief executive of News International, the News Corp subsidiary which publishes News of the World, The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.

The dinner is reported to have taken place days after Business Secretary Vince Cable was stripped of his responsibility for media policy - which had included ruling on News Corporation's proposed £8.3bn bid for control of BSkyB. The Liberal Democrat minister had told undercover reporters for the Daily Telegraph that he had "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who assumed responsibility for media policy following Vince Cable's gaffe, released the findings on 25 January of an Ofcom report into the bid, announcing that it would be referred to the Competition Commission. But News Corp has been given more time to address his concerned over "potential threats to media plurality".

In a statement, News Corporation responded to the Culture Secretary's announcement by saying that the proposed deal "will not lead to there being insufficient plurality in news provision in the UK". The statement also said that News Corporation "has submitted an undertaking that we believe addresses Ofcom’s concerns".

Murdoch and Co
The shadow of Rupert Murdoch and his dynasty undoubtedly looms over the debate about News Corporation's suitability to take full control of the UK's largest pay-TV broadcaster. He has been News Corporation CEO since its foundation in 1979, and its directors include two of his sons, James and Lachlan.

James Murdoch's appointment in 2003, at the age of 30, to run BSkyB, in which News Corporation then held a 35 per cent stake, provoked accusations of nepotism. Four years later he stood down as CEO and became non-executive chairman.

In August 2009 James Murdoch hit the front pages when made an outspoken attack on the BBC in a speech to the Edinburgh International Television Festival. He described the scale of the corporation's ambition as "chilling" and said it was "incapable of distinguishing between what is good for it and what is good for the country."

Some would argue that similar fears over "plurality" inform Ofcom's report into News Corporation's bid for BSkyB. The regulator's report also refers to "scepticism of behavioural remedies as a means of guaranteeing the editorial independence of Sky News from News Corp".

Sky News values
But commentators are keen to stress that Sky News, which was launched by Rupert Murdoch in 1989, has an important role to play within British media. Stewart Purvis, former ITN chief executive and until July Ofcom’s content and standards partner, told Channel 4 News: "I don't think anybody would want to lose Sky News – a non-BBC news channel. The question is, is there a structure for a non-BBC news channel which keeps some separation between News Corp, its newspapers, and the editorial operation of this news channel? That is the challenge."

Analyst Steve Hewlett, who presents The Media Show on BBC Radio 4, agrees. "No-one wants to see Sky News close. They've invested a lot of money in it." But he concedes that Rupert Murdoch's emotional bond to newspapers is not shared by his son James, and that a News Corporation under James Murdoch might consider at least part of the News International stable to be dispensable.

Kelvin MacKenzie, who edited The Sun under Rupert Murdoch between 1981 and 1994, dismisses fears that an unregulated, News Corp-controlled Sky News could go the way of Fox News, Murdoch's outspokenly right-wing US news channel. "Under the terms of the licence, it couldn't," he says. "And even if we could do it, I have a significant question mark about whether it would work out."

That view is shared by Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins, who edited The Times between 1990 and 1992. "The law stops Sky News getting like Fox News. The terms of the licence under the broadcasting act are very clear." And he is unequivocal in his assertion that Murdoch did not interfere in the direction of editorial content. "I never had any trouble on such matters," Jenkins told Channel 4 News. "I really don't think he was concerned with that. To my certain knowledge, I really don't think the question of editorial content of organisations that he runs is significant."

Media pioneer, inveterate investor
Most of those who know Rupert Murdoch or studied his methods are united in regarding him as a pioneer. In Steve Hewlett's view, the reason there is so little criticism of the media magnate from those who have worked under him is that "they may not have liked him but they have a pretty high opinion of him".

"Rupert Murdoch is a buccaneer who takes big risks and things take off," Hewlett says. "He got hold of his UK press business, then virtually bankrupted his UK newspaper business to get Sky running. And look at how Sky has developed - going digital, HD, Sky Plus, football. It's almost textbook capitalism. You take a big risk, you risk ruin. It's hard not to admire it."

In Kelvin MacKenzie's view, his former proprietor was an inveterate investor. "When you're an inveterate investor, you always believe that losses, or investments, will turn into profits. And we should salute him. What's very odd in this country is that we don't, despite the fact that he's created tens of thousands of jobs. The man is literally a genius at what he does."

Earlier this year BSkyB clashed with Ofcom over the latter's ruling that Sky Sports 1 and 2 should be offered to BSkyB rivals at a discounted price. It remains to be seen how Rupert Murdoch will drive his corporation's response should his empire again be thwarted by Britain's media regulator.