Regulator submits new report on Fox-Sky bid

UK govt to make a decision ‘as soon as is reasonably practicable’

LOS ANGELES, Aug 26, (RTRS): The UK government’s department for culture, media and sport (DCMS) confirmed Friday that it had received a new report from British communications regulator Ofcom on 21st Century Fox’s bid to takeover pay-TV broadcaster Sky.

The report was submitted Friday afternoon to Karen Bradley, the British government minister for culture and media, who had requested a further review of the bid as she considered whether to refer the matter to the UK’s Competitions and Markets Authority, a move recommended in Ofcom’s June report. No details of the contents of the latest report have yet been published.

A statement released on the DCMS website Friday said: “Following the Secretary of State’s request for advice and clarification in light of representations received in relation to the proposed merger between 21st Century Fox and Sky, Ofcom have, today, submitted additional advice to the Secretary of State.”

The statement said Bradley would now “carefully consider that advice before making her decision on referral on the basis of all the evidence before her, and will do so as soon as is reasonably practicable.” Bradley’s request to Ofcom and the regulator’s latest report will be be published “in due course.”

European pay-TV operator Sky accepted 21st Century’s Fox’s takeover offer late last year. Fox expected the deal to close in 2017 but has struggled to get it past British authorities, making that timetable unlikely. The agreement has already been approved by European Union officials and in the other territories in which Sky operates: Austria, Germany, Ireland, and Italy.

The US media giant wants to acquire the 61% of Sky it does not already own for $15 billion. Bradley has said she “is minded” to refer concerns over the market share that a combined Fox-Sky would hold to Britain’s competition authority, which would have 24 weeks to carry out a review.

Bradley previously said she was not inclined to further investigate concerns over broadcasting standards and whether the Murdoch family would be a “fit and proper” owner of Sky. But that dismayed opponents of the deal, including prominent British politicians and pressure groups Media Matters and Avaaz, which have highlighted issues at Fox News in the US, such as its troubles with sexual harassment and a recent legal complaint related to its reporting on the death of a Democratic Party operative named Seth Rich.

On Monday Avaaz submitted a letter to Ofcom, threatening to have the courts intervene if the regulator did not revisit its June report and “reconsider the question of Sky’s fitness post-merger.”