British legislators said on Thursday they hoped to publish on May 1 a long-awaited report into a phone hacking scandal centered on News Corp's now-closed News of the World tabloid.

Parliament's culture committee is widely expected to criticize News Corp in the report, raising the possibility that the British broadcast watchdog Ofcom will force Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate to cut or sell its stake in the highly profitable pay-TV firm BSkyB [ID:nL6E8FC3ZT].

The committee hopes to reach agreement on the report in a vote at the end of this month, with publication the following morning, committee member Paul Farrelly said.

News Corp lies at the centre of a long-running scandal over phone and computer hacking, in which journalists intercepted the voicemails of celebrities and crime victims, and now faces allegations that police officers were also paid for information that was used in newspaper reports.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; Writing by Tim Castle; Editing by Alison Williams)

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