Like Father, Like Son?

Maybe the kid's all right after all. In the fall of 2003 investors were screaming nepotism when media mogul Rupert Murdoch installed his son James as chief executive of BSkyB, the British pay-TV powerhouse that is 36% owned by Murdoch Sr.'s New York City--based News Corp. But earlier this month James, 32, wowed them by reversing a two-year skid in Sky's year-to-year quarterly subscriber growth. "Murdoch Jr. is doing fairly well, to be honest," says John Hayes of London-based F & C Asset Management. That's high praise from a fund that voiced big concerns when James took over.

But subscribers, like...