Rupert Murdochs Sky bid provisionally blocked by regulator
Source: The Guardian
Rupert Murdoch’s £11.7bn bid to take full control of Sky has been provisionally blocked by the UK competition regulator.
The Competition and Markets Authority said 21st Century Fox’s bid to take control of the 61% of Sky it does not already own was not in the public interest due to concerns about media plurality.
The CMA’s investigation into the deal found it would give the Murdoch family trust, which controls Fox and News Corp, the publisher of the Sun and the Times, “too much control over news providers in the UK across all media platforms and therefore too much influence over public opinion and the political agenda”.
The investigation cleared the deal on the grounds of Fox’s commitment to broadcasting standards – despite the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World and allegations of sexual harassment at Fox News.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/23/rupert-murdoch-sky-bid-blocked-21st-century-fox-cma
The article points out that Disney's purchase of many Fox assets, which is to include its share in Sky TV in the UK, won't complete until well after the proposed Murdoch purchase of the rest of Sky, so this decision does have a real effect.
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