Provisional CMA Findings on Fox/Sky Disappointing but Progress, Fox Says
U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) preliminary findings that Fox's proposed buy of Sky may be against the public interest regarding media plurality issues is disappointing, but the provisional findings move the deal to the next regulatory review step, Fox…
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said in a statement Tuesday. Fox expects final regulatory OK by June 30 now that CMA is taking an eight-week extension, moving the deadline for its final decision to May 1. In a note to investors Tuesday, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker said the findings don't close the door on the deal since CMA provided potential remedies. She said a spinoff or divestiture of Sky News is possible, as are behavioral remedies to insulate Sky from the Murdoch family trust. She said Disney's buying Fox would remove the roadblocks to the deal since it would weaken the Sky News/Murdoch family trust ties, but that timing becomes a problem since Disney/Fox is expected to happen after June 30. The CMA said Tuesday its inquiry group provisionally concluded that while Fox/Sky may not be in the public interest regarding media plurality, it's not against the public interest regarding broadcasting standards. It said the deal makes it more likely Sky News and News Corp.-owned newspapers "could take a similar approach on specific topics or issues, push certain stories, or downplay others" and that Murdoch family trust control over Sky News alongside those newspapers would give it oversized control over public opinion and political agendas.