Rupert Murdoch may be revitalised by his exit from Sky

Rupert Murdoch is a bogeyman to so many people in Britain – especially those who lean politically to the left – that there will be wild cheering in some quarters at the news that his role in Sky TV is soon to come to a complete end, following the decision of 21^st Century Fox to sell its remaining shares.

Never mind that Sky has brought entertaining television into millions of homes, including high quality drama, sport and news. Never mind either, that it has provided employment to thousands of broadcast professionals and forced other media outlets to up their game. And never mind that the advent of subscription TV has, in turn, pumped vast amounts of money back into football and other sports.

Indeed, for Murdoch’s critics (haters, in some cases), the success of Sky is somehow a further reason to knock him. Opponents perceive in Sky News the political bias that is obvious – and permissible – in Murdoch’s newspaper empire, although there is no real evidence to back the claim. What’s more, the issue of paying to watch sport remains inherently divisive: would interest in cricket have declined in the last decade or so if the masses could still watch it on Channel 4 or the BBC?

Whatever your view on Murdoch, however, the prospect of him no longer having any stake in Sky – which he launched in 1989 – feels momentous. Few might have guessed nearly three decades ago that the subscription broadcaster would become the monolith that it is today. The auction for control of the company, won by Comcast on Saturday, valued Sky at £30bn – which is enough for a lot of satellite dishes.

As such, even if UK-based TV could never provide a platform for political rhetoric in the way that a newspaper can, Murdoch’s influence in the wider media industry will be weakened by his exit from Sky.

Nevertheless, it would be premature to conclude that we’ve seen the last of him. Murdoch may be 89-years-old but there is little to suggest he is any less engaged with his businesses – and especially with his newspapers – than in previous times. What’s more, without Sky to worry about, this titan of media titans may feel he can devote his entire focus to the elements of his empire which remain. For those in senior editorial roles at The Sun in particular, that may be quite a thought.

We are at present six months away from Brexit (in theory), with debate about our mode of departure (and a possible second referendum) raging. Murdoch’s view on that issue seems fairly clear; as does his position on the potential of Jeremy Corbyn forming a new government.

The influence of individual newspaper on elections and on major policy issues is debatable. But, with Sky behind him, Murdoch may believe the time has come to once again turn up the heat from The Sun.