Comcast challenges Murdoch with rival bid for UK-based Sky

LONDON — U.S. media giant Comcast on Wednesday offered 22 billion pounds ($30.7 billion) for Sky PLC, topping a bid from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and setting up a bidding war for Britain’s biggest satellite television company.

Comcast said it would pay 12.75 pounds for each Sky share, 16 percent more than Fox’s offer. Sky shares rose 3.9 percent to 13.59 pounds as investors bet Fox would sweeten its bid, and Sky withdrew its recommendation that shareholders accept the Fox offer.

Sky is based in London and has pay-TV operations across Europe, offering a platform for U.S. companies like Comcast and Fox to expand abroad. Fox, which already owns 39 percent of Sky, offered to buy the rest of the shares last June, triggering concerns the deal would give Murdoch too much control over British media. Walt Disney Co., which is in the process of buying Fox, has signaled it would be interested in buying Sky to neutralize Murdoch’s critics.

“The question now is whether Fox/Disney makes a knockout bid to discourage any further Comcast offer and what it thinks this level is, without breaking the bank,” analysts at Liberum Capital said in a note to clients.

Fox issued a statement saying it remains committed to its offer and is “currently considering its options.”

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said Sky’s 23 million customers and leading positions in the U.K., Italy and Germany would provide “significant opportunities for growth.”