U.K. Government Delays Review of Fox Bid for Sky Due to Election
April 21 2017 - 12:51PM
Dow Jones News
By Stu Woo
LONDON -- The U.K. government's decision to hold snap
parliamentary elections in June will delay by a month the
regulatory-review process for 21st Century Fox Inc.'s $15 billion
bid to buy the 61% of U.K. pay-television giant Sky PLC that it
doesn't already own.
U.K. culture secretary Karen Bradley said Friday that she has
given media regulators an extra month to determine whether Fox's
full ownership of Sky would be in the British public's interest.
The regulators' deadline to submit their report, which was
previously May 16, is now June 20.
Ms. Bradley is a lawmaker expected to retain her seat in the
June 8 election.
Media regulators are reviewing whether Fox's ownership of Sky
would maintain "plurality" -- or diversity of viewpoints -- across
the British media. They also have broad authority to determine
whether Fox would be a "fit and proper" owner of Sky.
After the review is submitted, Ms. Bradley can clear the merger,
refer it to Britain's competition authority for further review or
ask Fox to make concessions.
A Fox spokeswoman on Friday referred to a statement from earlier
this month, in which said it looked forward to working with British
authorities and was confident the merger would be approved.
Rupert Murdoch and his family are major shareholders of Fox and
News Corp. Fox and News Corp, which also is the parent company of
The Wall Street Journal, were part of the same company until it
split in 2013.
Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 21, 2017 13:36 ET (17:36 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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