Ofcom wants police officers conducting the phone-hacking inquiry to keep it informed of progress in the criminal investigation into the News of the World, to help the media regulator decide whether the paper's parent company, News Corporation, would be a "fit and proper" owner of BSkyB.

On Friday afternoon Ofcom said it had asked to be "kept abreast" of developments by members of Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan police team investigating phone hacking, so that it can monitor whether News Corp would pass the "fit and proper" test that all owners of UK television channels have to meet.

In a letter to John Whittingdale, the Conservative chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, Ofcom said it would like to be informed of "the timescales" of any relevant investigations and "of any further information that may assist us in the discharge of our own duty".

The fit and proper person test applies to any owner of a television station in the UK – and the regulator has already indicated it would only invoke it if a director of BSkyB were to be charged with criminal offences, such as phone hacking. Failing the test means a licence to broadcast television is taken away, taking channels off air.

However, Ofcom also made it clear the letter includes both "controlling directors and shareholders", which means the test would apply to any future owner of BSkyB – including News Corp as a whole, should it succeed in its £8bn bid for BSkyB.

Deciding how to apply the test would be complex in practice, but in essence it would require at least one, and possibly several senior News Corp executives to be charged.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook