Government agrees to Murdoch's BSkyB takeover
- 13 years ago
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has accepted News Corp's plans to spin off Sky News in an effort to address concerns over its planned takeover of BSkyB.
The move brings Rupert Murdoch's News Corp a huge step closer towards securing his prized £10 billion buyout of BSkyB.
It will allow the company to avoid a prolonged investigation and start negotiating the terms of the deal.
In return for clearance, News Corp will spin off the loss-making but influential Sky News channel and guarantee its future by giving it a ten-year carriage deal on the Sky TV platform, and a seven-year agreement to use the Sky name.
The buyout has blown up into a far wider debate over Murdoch's media control in Britain.
An alliance of media groups opposed to the buyout dismissed Murdoch's solution to competition concerns as a "whitewash".
Murdoch owns a third of the British newspaper market including The Sun and The Times.
Competition lawyers said Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt had played a very clever hand which would suit News Corp and be tough to challenge as the Sky News ownership remained unchanged.