Ofcom to Investigate Sky-21st Century Fox Merger

LONDON: The U.K.’s Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has requested that Ofcom look into the proposed combination of Sky and 21st Century Fox.

Ofcom is being asked to report, by May 16, on the effects of the proposed transaction on “the need, in relation to every different audience in the United Kingdom or in a particular area or locality of the United Kingdom, for there to be a sufficient plurality of persons with control of the media enterprises serving that audience,” and also, “the need for persons carrying on media enterprises, and for those with control of such enterprises, to have a genuine commitment to the attainment in relation to broadcasting of the standards objectives set out in section 319 of the Communications Act 2003.”