Rival Bid To Murdoch For Sky.

[Gromit]

US giant ComCast (owners of NBC, Unversal Pictures and Dreamworks) has put in a rival bid for Sky Tv.
Murdoch’s (20th Century Fox) bid has already been deemed as ‘not in the public interest’ by the regulator.

With Murdoch already owning a large share of the UKs media, do you think him not aquiring Sky will be a good thing?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43209100

[1ozzy]

Sure do!!

One person owning a major percentage of media outlets has the opportunity to sway what is reported.

A balance is needed.

[jno]

Far too much concentration in UK media already. But the issue of newspaper ownership is muddied by the growth of Internet "news" sources, along with the entertainment companies that have been buying into news media for years.

[Gromit]

/Last month the Competition and Markets Authority said that it had provisionally found that a Sky takeover by 21st Century Fox would not be in the public interest and that a combined entity would have...

// “too much influence over public opinion and the political agenda”. //

[ToraToraTora]

I though he own at least some of Sky already! He's the founder.

[ToraToraTora]

spathi - you forgot to do an evil laugh - Mwahahaha!

[youngmafbog]

A bit of an over reaction there Spathy there are plenty of left wing outlets going strong.

Although the regulator said it was not in the interest of the public in its current form options have been given to Murdoch.

To be honest I dont really care either way. If you dont like it dont watch it, I am far more worried by the left wing anti Brexit influence from the biased BBC for which I am forced to pay for.

[Gromit]

Sky was unprofitable for a long time and Murdoch sold shares for the business to survive. Along with various mergers, Fox now owns 39%.

The other 61% are owned by hedge funds and pension funds. I believe Tesco own a lot of shares, and the CofE. If Comcast can persuade 82% of those to sell, they will gain control of the company.

If Fox’s bid is blocked by the Regulator, then it is rumoured that Disney will bid.

[jno]

According to the FT, Comcast were inspired to bid by a London cabbie, who was carrying their boss somewhere and gave him a very detailed description of Sky's advantages over Virgin.

I vaguely remember some plutocrat (Rockefeller?) saying he first realised the market was going haywire before the Depression when his shoeshine boy started giving him stock tips.

[Jahulaye]

“do you think him not aquiring Sky will be a good thing?“

I suppose it depends on his political leanings.