News Corp. Could Sell British Papers

British Prime Minister David Cameron will lead the Tories Wednesday in calling on Rupert Murdoch to drop his $12 billion bid to takeover British Sky Broadcasting. Murdoch, however, may be willing to give up more than just BSkyB in his efforts to rescue his reputation after the phone-hacking scandal: The Wall Street Journal (itself a News Corp. property) says that News Corp. has explored selling its British newspaper unit, News International, although Murdoch himself was apparently cool on the idea. In any case, there didn’t seem to be any buyers for the papers, which include The Sun and The Times of London, given the poor economics of the newspaper business. The Journal says, however, that the company revisits selling or spinning off the papers in the next six months. Meanwhile, Cameron, in his attempts to distance himself from the company, will also announce that a judge will oversee a full inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal.