21^st Century Fox: UK Competition and Markets Authority gives negative opinion on Sky acquisition

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given a negative opinion (on 23/01/2018), at the end of the inquiry opened at the request of the British government, on 29/06/2017, on the full acquisition of the British audiovisual group Sky by the US media conglomerate 21^st Century Fox on 15/12/2016. The CMA believe that the acquisition is not in the "public interest" and would give the Murdoch family, which already owns, through News Corp, the newspapers The Times and The Sun, "too much control over news providers in the UK across all media platforms, [...] and therefore too much influence over public opinion and the political agenda."

The regulator suggested that the Sky News news channel be isolated from 21^st Century Fox within a different structure, or resold by the US conglomerate. Otherwise, it advocates a ban on the operation.

The European Commission had "unconditionally" approved the proposed acquisition of the British audiovisual group Sky by the US media conglomerate 21^st Century Fox on 07/04/2017. 21^st Century Fox which owned 39.1% of Sky acquired the remaining…