Branson Calls on Trade Secretary to Intervene in Sky/ITV Deal

LONDON, December 11: Sir Richard Branson is stepping up his
battle to keep BSkyB from acquiring a 17.9-percent stake in ITV, calling on
Alistair Darling, the U.K.’s Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, to
intervene in the deal.

Branson is the biggest shareholder in British cable platform
NTL, which acquired his Virgin Mobile earlier this year. NTL last month
approached ITV with a merger offer, which was rebuffed shortly after Sky
announced its intention to take a 17.9-percent stake in the British
broadcaster. Branson has called Sky’s acquisition damaging to "the
plurality of the British media". NTL, meanwhile, has called on the Office
of Fair Trading and Ofcom to explore the “magnitude of the competition issues
involved” in the deal.