MUMBAI: Facing flak for phone hacking scandal, media baron Rupert Murdoch said Britian doesn‘t appeal him anymore. Instead, the News Corp chairman is bullish on United States.

Murdoch is no longer interested in acquiring the profitable pay TV business British Sky Broadcasting, in which his company holds 39 per cent.

Pertinently, Murdoch has for a long time been pursuing the take over of BSkyB but the phone hacking scandal which engulfed at its British tabloids last year forced the company to withdraw the $12 billion bid to buy BSkyB.

?I think we have moved on in our own thinking from that,? Murdoch said to Fox Business. ?There were billions and billions of dollars and if Britain didn?t want them, we have good places to put them here. I am much more bullish on America than I am about England.?

Murdoch brushed aside suggestions that his decision had more to do with the hacking scandal, saying his confidence in the United States has a lot to do with its leadership. He also believes that Europe is going to have a long ?semi-recession, if not a real recession".

MUMBAI: Asian sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has announced two new appointments strengthening its Cricket Syndication Team.

Guy Le Grew, who previously supported the syndication team in his capacity as Assistant General Counsel will now assume the role of Director, Syndication. Assuming a wider commercial role, Le Grew will now be responsible for handling sales and client servicing activities in addition to providing acquisition and legal support on all cricket deals, with responsibility for territories in the UK and Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada and South Africa.

ESS senior VP corporate development, cricket rights Anurag Dahiya said, "I am delighted to have someone of Guy‘s calibre take a wider role in our team as we enter a new year. We look forward to leveraging his proven negotiation and commercial expertise to enhance our global relationships and activities."

Further to Le Grew‘s appointment senior manager of cricket syndication Sunil Manoharan has been tasked with a more independent role in managing clients in the territories of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies, Middle East and others, and will continue to coordinate various cricket event operations.

Both new appointments will strengthen ESS‘ Cricket Syndication Team with a further injection of legal, commercial, broadcasting and production experience.

Prior to joining ESS, Le Grew was based in the United Kingdom, where he worked as a Senior Legal Advisor in the Legal and Business Affairs team at Sky Sports, Britain‘s largest sports broadcaster. During his five-year tenure, he was responsible for delivering a full range of legal support across the business including the negotiation and implementation of a variety of acquisition, production and sponsorship deals, as well as providing extensive contractual and legal advice.

He has more than 12 years of legal experience, having started his career with Middletons Lawyers in Australia in the Corporate/Commercial Mergers and Acquisitions division. He then moved to the United Kingdom to a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland as In-house Corporate Legal Advisor and later moved to British Sky Broadcasting before relocating to Singapore to join ESS in January 2010.

Manoharan brings with him more than 15 years of Broadcast experience and prior to his current role in Sports Rights Sales and Management, he produced content for television including live sport, magazine shows and promos. Since joining ESS more than eleven years ago, Manoharan has specialised in live sports broadcasting with a particular focus on cricket, and has produced live cricket from most of the iconic cricket stadiums from around the world.