UK Commission to look at Murdoch's media control

[BGonaSTICK]

A Competition Commission investigation into satellite group BSkyB's purchase of a stake in ITV will look at the wider case of whether R. Murdoch's media empire has too much influence in Britain.

The Commission is investigating BSkyB's controversial purchase of a 17.9 percent stake in the country's biggest commercial broadcaster ITV and on Monday outlined the scale of the probe.

It said it would investigate whether the acquisition created an "ownership" link between Murdoch's News Corp., his British newspapers, BSkyB and ITV and its news provider ITN.

BSkyB made the 940 million pound purchase in November, effectively blocking NTL -- since relaunched as Virgin Media -- which had approached ITV about a bid.

BSkyB's competitors, including Virgin Media have since complained, and ITV has said that as a competitor, BSkyB could block a shareholder resolution requiring a 75 percent majority as not all ITV shareholders always vote.

The Commission said it would investigate whether "this could lead to a reduction in the plurality of provision of news".

R. Murdoch is chairman and non-executive director of BSkyB while his UK subsidiary of News Corp., News International, also owns the mass-selling Sun, the News of the World and the Times newspaper.

He is also currently engaged in a bid to buy Dow Jones & Co. Inc., the publisher of The Wall Street Journal newspaper.

ITV's national news is produced by ITN, a leading news and content provider which has ITV, Reuters Group, Daily Mail & General Trust and United Business Media as its shareholders.

BSkyB Chief Executive and Murdoch's son, James, said at the time of the purchase it saw ITV, a free-to-air broadcaster, as a good investment and does not intend to have material influence.

The Commission said on Monday it had provisionally identified six possible ways in which the acquisition might result in a substantial lessening of competition which it would investigate further but that this should not be seen as a conclusion.

The six ways included loss of competition in an "all-TV" market, loss of competition in "premium pay-TV" and loss of competition in the provision of television news.

Source: Reuters