The chairman of the media group News Corporation has criticised broadcast policy in Britain, saying it allows the BBC to be dominant.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Television Festival, James Murdoch described the scale of the BBC's operations as a threat to independent journalism in the UK.
Mr Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns Sky, the New York Post and Wall Street Journal, said free news on the web provided by the BBC made it ‘incredibly difficult’ for private news organisations to ask people to pay for their news.
Mr Murdoch said he was concerned about the scope of the corporation's activities and ambitions.
He was particularly critical of the BBC's radio operations in the UK.
