In blow to Murdoch, UK refers Fox bid for Sky to regulator

LONDON » The British government will refer Twenty-First Century Fox Inc.’s bid for satellite broadcaster Sky to the country’s competition regulator for further examination, in a blow to Rupert Murdoch’s takeover plans.

Culture Secretary Karen Bradley told lawmakers Tuesday that she intended to refer the takeover to the Competition and Markets Authority because of concerns that the deal might concentrate too much power in one company’s hands. Murdoch already owns British newspapers including the Sun and The Times of London.

And, in a change of view, she said she was also “minded” to refer it out of concerns about broadcasting standards. Bradley said there is a risk, “which is not purely fanciful,” that the merger would not be in the public interest.

Twenty-First Century Fox said it was disappointed in the decision, noting that U.K. broadcast regulator Ofcom had advised the government that the deal did not raise concerns about broadcast standards. Ofcom has said that the takeover could give the Murdoch family too much influence over Britain’s media.

“We urge the secretary of state to take a final decision quickly,” Fox said, adding that the deal, announced in December 2016, was now likely to be completed by June 30, 2018, “subject to any further delays in the decision-making process.”

Murdoch’s media group is trying to buy the 61 percent of Sky it doesn’t already own. The takeover values Sky, which broadcasts Premier League soccer and top film and television offerings in Britain and other European markets, at 18.5 billion pounds ($25 billion).

An earlier attempt to buy the remaining shares was scuttled by the 2011 phone-hacking scandal that rocked Murdoch’s British newspapers and led him to close the 168-year-old News of the World.