The UK government has given the green light to a potential bidding contest between media companies 21st Century Fox and Comcast for pay-television broadcaster Sky.
Culture Secretary, Matt Hancock, has approved Fox’s bid on the condition that the company offloads the Sky News operation to another organisation, which would guarantee its independence and support it financially for a minimum of 10 years.
Last month, Hancock said that he was unlikely to call for an investigation into Comcast’s bid.
Comcast has made a $30bn (€25.5bn) offer to acquire the 61 per cent of Sky that Fox does not own, attempting to outbid an earlier offer by Fox to seize complete control of the broadcaster. Regulatory scrutiny has held up Fox’s bid for the 61 per cent of Sky that it does not already own for almost 18 months.
Sky is a major sports broadcaster in the UK, as well as Austria, Germany and Italy.
Hancock said that talks would begin immediately over the proposed divestment of Sky News “in a way that works for the long term”.
He added: “I am optimistic that we can achieve this goal. However, if we can't agree terms at this point, then I agree with the CMA that the only effective remedy now would be to block the merger altogether. This is not my preferred approach.”
Fox said it was “confident that we will reach a final decision clearing our transaction” following Hancock’s announcement.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority provisionally blocked Fox’s takeover bid in January, but Fox has been attempting to address the concerns raised since then.