Fox Networks’ UK offices raided by EU antitrust watchdog

LOS ANGELES: The London offices of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Networks were raided by European Union antitrust regulators as part of a probe of the distribution of sports media rights.

The inspections were carried out in several EU countries at companies related to broadcasting rights for various sports events, the European Commission said in a statement late Tuesday. Officials are expected to stay through yesterday and possibly today at the West London offices of Fox Networks Group, according to the Daily Telegraph, which first reported the raid.

The probe comes at a difficult time for 21st Century Fox Inc, the owner of Fox Networks, which spent months trying to gain UK and EU approval to purchase Sky Plc, the big European pay-TV service. EU regulators approved the acquisition last April, but UK regulators continue to assess it as part of a separate media plurality review. Comcast Corp topped Murdoch’s offer for Sky with a US$31bil bid in February.

Fox said it’s cooperating with the officials. Antitrust raids by EU regulators are a first step in investigating suspected violations and don’t signal guilt, the commission said.

The raids may be an offshoot of a long-running EU probe into pay-TV rights. Regulators have been taking aim at industry contracts that prevent people from viewing movies and TV programmes outside the country in which they are sold, focusing on Sky’s deals with major motion picture studios including Walt Disney Co, Time Warner Inc’s Warner Brothers unit, Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal, and Sony Pictures.

While the EU pay-TV probe has been simmering for years, the UK review of the Sky deal could be resolved within weeks as regulators prepare to turn in their final report of government ministers by May 1.

Last week, Fox offered to spin off Sky News as an independent company or sell it to Disney to address lawmakers’ concerns about having to much influence in British Media.