UK: British Watchdog delays report on Fox-Sky takeover, again

The UK competition watchdog charged by the government with scrutinizing 21st Century Fox’s US$15 billion takeover bid for Sky has again extended the deadline on its report. The proposed deal, which has been cleared elsewhere in Europe, has stalled in Britain amid tough opposition from some political quarters.

The Competition and Markets Authority was scheduled to deliver its preliminary findings in mid-December. It then pushed this date back to mid-January, citing the vast number of submissions about the case it had received.

The authority now says its findings will be published later in January.

The watchdog did not respond to a request for comment as the news of the latest delay surfaced, but sources confirmed the deadline extension. The authority’s website says that “provisional findings [are] due in January 2018.”

The authority’s full report is due to be submitted to the British government’s culture secretary in early March. That position is now occupied by Matt Hancock after a cabinet shuffle saw Karen Bradley moved to a different department.

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