In shadow of Fox bid, James Murdoch re-elected Sky chairman

Mudroch bagged support from a majority of shareholders at Sky's annual general meeting where votes were cast to decide on the issue

A majority of independent votes cast at the annual shareholders' meeting of Sky on Thursday supported the re-election of James Murdoch as chairman, a spokesman for the European pay TV group said.

Ahead of the meeting some shareholders had said they were planning to oppose Murdoch's re-election because they did not believe he could effectively represent independent investors as he is also chief executive of Twenty-First Century Fox.

Twenty-First Century Fox, which already owns 39 per cent of Sky, agreed to buy the rest of the company in December 2016, a deal which is currently being reviewed by Britain's competition regulators.

At Sky's AGM, independent director Martin Gilbert said he was "pretty confident" past events at Fox News in the United States would not affect the UK Competition and Markets Authority's current review of the deal.

Gilbert's comment was a reference to allegations of sexual and racial harassment at Fox News.