UK confirms Murdoch’s Sky bid will be examined over broadcasting standards

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A pedestrian passes in front of signage displayed outside Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. headquarters in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, May 3, 2017.

Rupert Murdoch’s planned $15 billion takeover of European broadcaster Sky will be referred to regulators over concerns about broadcasting standards, Britain’s Culture and Media Secretary Karen Bradley said on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Bradley said she was minded to refer Twenty-First Century Fox’s planned purchase of the 69 percent of Sky it does not already own to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to look into corporate governance.

“Yesterday I received letters on behalf of both parties to the merger, confirming that while they disagree with my ‘minded to’ decision they would not be making substantive representations in relation to it,” Bradley told parliament.

“As a result, I can confirm that my ‘minded to’ decision is now final and I will now refer the merger to the CMA for a phase 2 investigation on media plurality and genuine commitment to broadcasting standards grounds.”