Publishers and BT send letter in bid to make culture secretary reconsider decision not to refer deal to competition regulator
The alliance of media companies opposed to News Corporation's takeover of BSkyB has written to MPs and peers urging them to lobby culture secretary Jeremy Hunt to reconsider his decision not to refer the deal to the competition regulator.
In a letter sent on behalf of BT and the publishers of the Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and Daily Telegraph, the alliance said News Corp's proposals to spin off Sky News from BSkyB were "ineffective" and "will not achieve their stated aim of protecting plurality in news media".
The companies added that the News Corp/Sky deal should still be referred by Hunt to the Competition Commission and urge parliamentarians to write to the culture secretary making this argument. The letter has been sent to MPs and some members of the House of Lords.
Earlier this month Hunt said he would grant regulatory approval for the deal, after News Corp proposed spinning off Sky News into a separate company, in order to deal with plurality concerns. News Corp would retain a 39% stake in Sky News ? the same as its current holding in BSkyB.
Hunt's decision to accept News Corp's undertakings and not refer the deal to the Competition Commission is the subject of a 15-day consultation, which ends on Monday, 21 March.
"We regard the proposed undertakings as being fraught with uncertainty and unlikely to safeguard plurality. We do not believe that, given these concerns, and those of many others in civil society, the culture secretary should accept these undertakings, but should forward the matter to the Competition Commission for a full investigation," the letter stated.
The alliance said the Sky News plan was ineffective because the new publicly listed holding company for the channel would still be economically dependent on News Corp, relying on it for 85% of its revenues.
They added that safeguards for Sky News' editorial independence proposed by News Corp were "weak" and the sort that Rupert Murdoch's company "has previously been adept at undermining".
The letter also points out that neither Ofcom nor the Office of Fair Trading, the regulators that advised Hunt on the Sky News spin-off plan, "regard this remedy as a sustainable plan".
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/mar/14/news-corp-sky-jeremy-hunt
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