Former News International boss Mockridge named Virgin Media chief LONDON - Tom Mockridge, the previous head of News Corp's British arm News International, will take the helm at cable group Virgin Media, one of Rupert Murdoch's biggest rivals in the British pay-TV market. Mockridge will take over as chief executive of Virgin once its $23.3bn acquisition by US cable firm Liberty Global completes, which will probably be next month, Liberty said in statement on Wednesday. The former Sky Italia executive took over Mr Murdoch's scandal-hit News International in July 2011, but left in December 2012 at the time of a News Corp restructuring, when Mr Murdoch named Robert Thomson head of his new publishing company. Mr Mockridge's name had previously been floated among industry observers as a potential candidate to lead the new publishing company. "We are fortunate to bring an executive of Tom's talent and experience in to lead Virgin Media in its next phase of growth," said Liberty Global head Mike Fries on Wednesday.