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UK: Fox will fund Sky News for 10 years to win takeover approval

By  |  February 20, 2018

Rupert Murdoch has doubled the length of time he is willing to keep running Sky News to “at least” 10 years, as 21st Century Fox sweetens its offer to protect the news channel to gain clearance for the US$16.4 billion takeover of Sky.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said last month that Murdoch’s bid raised media plurality concerns because the deal would give his family too much control over UK news media. The Murdoch family trust controls Fox and News  publisher of the Sun and the Times.

The new remedies offer is an improvement on a previous proposal of five years of guaranteed funding for Sky News, which is understood to lose around US$40 million per year. It brings Fox’s bid closer in line with the Murdochs’ earlier failed attempt to buy the 61% of Sky they do not own, via News Corp.

 

Full Content: The Telegraph

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