Fox Takeover Of Sky Is Not In The Public’s Interest According To British Competition Watchdog
The British Competition Watch has provisionally concluded that the proposed takeover of Sky by 21st Century Fox would have a negative impact on media plurality and its expected that the British government will reject the $15 billion bid to take over the 61% of Sky that Fox doesn’t already own.
The Competition and Markets Authority have said that it “has provisionally found that Fox taking full control of Sky is not in the public interest due to media plurality concerns, but not because of a lack of a genuine commitment to meeting broadcasting standards in the U.K.”
With the Murdoch Family Trust (MFT), controlling Fox and News Corporation, it would mean that they’ve have increasing its control over Sky, so that it would have too much influence over public opinion and the political agenda.
Disney’s purchase of 21st Century Fox isn’t effected by the this decision, as it was made clear during its initial announcement of the buy out, that this wasn’t a deal breaker.
The CMA did however state that these public interest concerns, would “fall away” once Disney had bought the Fox assets. But it added: “At this stage we cannot, however, be sufficiently confident that the Disney/Fox transaction will proceed.”
21st Century Fox responded to this report by stating:
21st Century Fox notes today’s publication by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of its Provisional Findings Report regarding the Company’s proposed acquisition of the remaining shares in Sky.
Today’s provisional findings move our proposed Sky transaction forward to the next phase of the regulatory review process.
We welcome the CMA’s provisional finding that the Company has a genuine commitment to broadcasting standards and the transaction would not be against the public interest in this respect.
Regarding plurality, we are disappointed by the CMA’s provisional findings.
We will continue to engage with the CMA ahead of the publication of the final report in May.
We also note that the CMA has elected to avail itself of the statutory 8-week extension, moving its deadline for a final decision to May 1, 2018. We anticipate regulatory approval of the transaction by June 30, 2018.
With the final decision coming in May, Fox and Sky might have a clearer picture of what is happening with the Disney buyout, which might put the British Government in a better position to discuss the buyout.
This report also was made just weeks after Disney’s announcement and until the deal is completed, this might be a buyout that Disney will decide to do later or even not at all.
And there are also suggestions that Fox would close their Sky News channel in order to make sure this buy out of Sky took place.
What do you think of this news?