Jeremy Darroch is in many ways the opposite of James Murdoch, his predecessor as BSkyB chief executive. He describes his background as working class and while Mr Murdoch had an Ivy League education, he studied economics at Hull University in the UK.
Mr. Darroch's career has led the 45-year-old from Procter & Gamble to retailer Dixons before he arrived as finance director of the UK pay-TV company. Mr Murdoch has been groomed by his father Rupert for a role in his media empire and is now non-executive chairman at Sky.
Sky has just celebrated its 20th birthday and has succeeded not only in establishing itself as the main pay-TV brand in the UK but also after a hesitant start as the fourth-largest provider of broadband. Its subscriber numbers are still rising in spite of the recession. But it faces challenges ranging from its stake in poorly performing broadcaster ITV, which it is being forced to sell, to how it can perform in online television.
In this interview, Mr Darroch talked about why shareholder value needs reforming, how pay-TV has proved remarkably resilient and about the Murdochs, father and son.
The Financial Times has just started a series on the future of capitalism. Is it a bright outlook?
If we stand back from the pressures we are seeing now, which are very acute, I think that, by any benchmark, capitalism has been fundamentally good in terms of economic development in societies and all it has brought. That is not to say that it doesn't need to move on.
What kind of changes would you like to see?
How we think about shareholder value probably needs some reappraisal. It has been too narrowly focused around short-term financial returns. It seems to me that really effective wealth creation comes not purely from short-term financial return, albeit that it's very important, but also from how we position our business for the communities and societies in which we work.
We are seeing some extraordinary measures such as quantitative easing and de facto bank nationalisation. Is it enough?
From where I stand, it's difficult to predict. We have to be cognisant that, as we push more and more public money into the private sector, that ultimately has to be paid for.
How deep will the recession be?
Again, it's difficult to predict exactly. 2009 is going to be a difficult year for the consumer environment.
The G20 are meeting next month in London. Should they focus on stabilising the system in the short term or on longer-term regulation?
We have to avoid too much long-term structural thinking without having got through the short term [first]. That said, we can't go too far the other way. So, getting a clear direction around where we want to come out of this and then being able to take short-term decisions through those optics are important.
Is pay-TV, which is dependent on subscription, showing that it is recession-proof?
So far it has proved pretty resilient. In fact, through 2008, we grew at a slightly faster rate than in 2007.
Are customers going for lower-value packages?
A bit. Right across our business what we are seeing are more marginal pressures and we are certainly seeing more customers come in at a basic level and a bit more pressure in terms of downgrades. Conversely, though, we're also seeing customers taking more services from us.
How do you see consumer spending developing?
I think 2009 is going to be difficult in terms of the consumer environment, but . . . in the short term one thing that has surprised me has been the performance of the consumer in areas like retail, which has typically done better than most expectations.
Has this recession changed your long-term assumptions about the penetration rates for pay-TV?
If anything, it is the opposite because one of the things we are seeing is that TV remains central to people's lives. They are consuming more TV than ever before.
Online TV is all the rage. Do you need to buy another internet company?
No, we've worked hard over the past few years to assemble the distribution assets we think are going to be competitive for the long term, and that is why we acquired our own broadband network three years ago. If there are opportunities we will be open-minded, but there is not really anything we feel we need to do.
The latest thing is super- fast broadband. Would it be better and cheaper for you to go with BT's own network rather than set up your own?
There are a number of options and BT is certainly one of those . . . We've got a good relationship with BT . . . so if we can get to a sensible solution then we'll be pretty open to that.
Can you do anything as a shareholder in ITV to salvage your investment?
With the right strategy that pushes into new areas there's no reason why ITV can't be successful. And we, alongside other shareholders, look for the management team to deliver on that.
James Murdoch is now your chairman. How does he differ from his predecessor, his father Rupert?
We all have different styles. James is different to Rupert in that sense. His style as CEO was a bit different to mine. What characterises the whole management team at Sky is that we have a belief in output and results.
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