Sky Expected to Appeal ITV Ruling

LONDON, February 19: BSkyB
is expected to this week appeal last
month’s ruling by the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and
Regulator Reform that it must lower its interest in ITV from 17.9 percent to
under 7.5 percent.

John Hutton last month
made the decision to order Sky to lower its ownership in the commercial
broadcaster following a report by the Competition Commission that found that
the Sky/ITV deal would result in a substantial lessening of competition in the
British market.

Earlier this month, Sky
reported a half-year loss of £112 million as a result of a £343 million
write-down of its ITV investment. Sky acquired the 17.9-percent interest in
November 2006 for £940 million.

According to British press
reports, Sky is set to take its displeasure with the ruling to the Competition
Appeals Tribunal. The FT cited a source close to the company as saying:
"We think the Competition Commission got it wrong at every key step
leading to this decision."

—By Mansha Daswani