LOOK AT LEGAL CHALLENGES TO PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY.

to a request for comment.

A review by the CMA would last up to six months, potentially pushing a deal past a year-end deadline that would trigger a costly Fox payout. If the deal isn’t completed by Dec. 31, Fox is obligated to pay Sky shareholders a dividend of 10 pence per share, or more than 170 million pounds.

A CMA referral could also Rupert Murdoch subject Fox’s bid to broader political tumult. The final decision would rest with Bradley, a member of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party. While the Tories are seen as more likely to approve the bid than Labour, May’s grasp on power was weakened in a snap election this month that left her without a majority and required her to forge an alliance with Northern Ireland’s DUP.

“We live in very unstable political times. There is no meaningful parliamentary majority for the Tories,” said Alex DeGroote at Cenkos Securities. “This becomes even more of a political hot potato now than it was before the election. I think the probability of the deal completing is fractionally lower.”

The referral process is not new to billionaire Murdoch: Ofcom recommended further investigation by regulators of his previous effort to acquire Sky in 2010, a bid which later collapsed amid a phone-hacking scandal at his newspapers. Then, Murdoch’s offered to spin off Sky News as an independent public limited company in lieu of the bid being referred.

Hacked Off, an advocacy group that’s continued to press for scrutiny of the Murdochs, said Bradley “should not waste time on ‘undertakings,’” or remedies that the Murdochs offer because they’re “not worth the paper they are written on,” pointing to Murdochs’ takeover of the Times newspaper more than three decades ago.

Avaaz, a group opposed to further concentration of media influence under Murdoch-controlled companies, went further.

“Karen Bradley should make this decision based on what’s best for British people, not Rupert Murdoch,” said Alex Wilks at Avaaz. “If the government green-lights the deal based on more empty Murdoch promises, we’ll look hard at legal challenges to protect our democracy.”

Control of Sky would give Fox a powerful platform in Europe for pay TV and Internet, to complement its film studio and cable channels. Sky provides satellite-TV to 21.8 million customers in the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria.