Murdoch’s Sky takeover faces probe after Left lobbies Minister

CULTURE Secretary Karen Bradley has revealed how she was swamped by Leftwing campaigners telling her to block Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of Sky.

The admission came as she revealed that she has had a change of heart about the deal, and now wants competition authorities to examine whether it would damage Sky’s ‘broadcasting standards’.

Nearly 43,000 people bombarded her over the summer about the £11.7billion bid, with many warning that Sky would become too Right-wing if the UK broadcaster was allowed to become part of Mr Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox empire.

Just 30 of those messages contained ‘substantive’ information that was useful to her decision, Miss Bradley said.

Most were orchestrated by lobby groups such as the New York-based Avaaz Foundation and 38 Degrees.

Miss Bradley said: ‘A significant majority were campaign- inspired, arguing against the merger going ahead… Almost all were related to the question of commitment to broadcasting standards.’

In the end, the regulator Ofcom advised Miss Bradley to ask the Competition and Markets Authority to probe the takeover’s impact on ‘media plurality’.

But while she initially accepted the assessment, she said yesterday that she had changed her mind after Ofcom admitted there were ‘concerns’ about the effect of the takeover. She said: ‘The existence of non-fanciful concerns means that – as a matter of law – the threshold for a reference on the broadcasting standards ground is met.’

However, 21st Century Fox, which is vying to buy the 61 per cent of Sky it does not already own, said it was ‘disappointed that the Secretary of State has chosen not to follow the unequivocal advice of the independent regulator’.