LONDON (AP) – Britain’s culture secretary will rule Thursday on whether Twenty-First Century Fox can take full control of the Sky pay television and broadband network in an 11.7 billion pound ($15.2 billion) deal critics say would give Rupert Murdoch too much power in U.K. media.
Murdoch’s media group is trying to buy the 61 percent of Sky it doesn’t already own, giving Twenty-First Century Fox easy access to Sky’s 22 million customers in the U.K., Ireland, Austria, Germany and Italy.
Culture Secretary Karen Bradley is scheduled to release her decision later Thursday, announcing whether she has cleared the deal or referred it to competition regulators for further review.
Ofcom, the communications regulator, last week submitted a report to Bradley on the deal’s implications for media competition and Sky’s compliance with broadcasting standards. A separate report looked at whether Twenty-First Century Fox is “fit and proper” to hold a broadcasting license.
Critics argue the takeover would give Murdoch too much influence over British media because his company already owns two of the country’s biggest newspapers, The Sun and The Times. Women who allege they were sexually harassed at U.S.-based Fox News also say the takeover should be blocked.