The struggle to get hold of Sky, the UK satellite TV operator, is getting tougher for Rupert Murdoch owned 21st Century Fox, as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said the deal will ‘not be in the public interest.’
Sky operates in five European territories and has 23 million subscribers.
This was the second effort of Fox to buy Sky. The efforts have been going on for a few years, but numerous oppositions and cases including the infamous phone hacking scandal blocked the deal.
Industry analysts believe that the news may have implications for the Walt Disney Company’s US$52.4 billion takeover of Fox entertainment assets. If Murdoch succeeds to buy Sky, Disney would take over the 100% shareholding in Sky.
The CMA said the MFT had put in safeguards that stopped a repeat of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, which found that journalists had accessed the voicemail accounts of many public figures. Not only this, allegations of sexual harassment against Fox News employees in the US will also be a factor stopping the deal to go through.
Fox stated that it was “disappointed” by the CMA’s reading of the media plurality issue.
The CMA said that the “MFT’s news outlets are watched, read or heard by nearly a third of the UK’s population”, giving it “a combined share of the public’s news consumption that is significantly greater than all other news providers, except the BBC and ITN”.
The CMA has suggested Sky News could be spun or sold off or insulated from the MFT as a solution to the perceived problems.
Source: http://cablequest.org/index.php/news/international-news/item/12010-sky-going-to-fox-%E2%80%98not-in-the-public-interest%E2%80%99%20-cma
This was the second effort of Fox to buy Sky. The efforts have been going on for a few years, but numerous oppositions and cases including the infamous phone hacking scandal blocked the deal.
Industry analysts believe that the news may have implications for the Walt Disney Company’s US$52.4 billion takeover of Fox entertainment assets. If Murdoch succeeds to buy Sky, Disney would take over the 100% shareholding in Sky.
The CMA said the MFT had put in safeguards that stopped a repeat of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, which found that journalists had accessed the voicemail accounts of many public figures. Not only this, allegations of sexual harassment against Fox News employees in the US will also be a factor stopping the deal to go through.
Fox stated that it was “disappointed” by the CMA’s reading of the media plurality issue.
The CMA said that the “MFT’s news outlets are watched, read or heard by nearly a third of the UK’s population”, giving it “a combined share of the public’s news consumption that is significantly greater than all other news providers, except the BBC and ITN”.
The CMA has suggested Sky News could be spun or sold off or insulated from the MFT as a solution to the perceived problems.
Source: http://cablequest.org/index.php/news/international-news/item/12010-sky-going-to-fox-%E2%80%98not-in-the-public-interest%E2%80%99%20-cma
No comments:
Post a Comment