UK: Murdoch pulls Fox News off air in UK

Rupert Murdoch and his sons are pulling Fox News off the air in Britain. The network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox (Fox), has announced that the controversial news channel will no longer be broadcast in the UK after failing to attract an audience. The network has also become a lightning rod for critics seeking to spoil the Murdochs’ planned US$15 billion takeover of Sky, the top pay TV provider in the UK.

“Fox News is focused on the US market and designed for a US audience and, accordingly, it averages only a few thousand viewers across the day in the UK,” Fox said in a statement.

“We have concluded that it is not in our commercial interest to continue providing Fox News in the UK,” it added.

Fox said the network’s final broadcast in the UK would be Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. local time. The decision to jettison the network in Britain could help insulate Fox from criticism as it seeks to win approval for its takeover of Sky.

UK Culture Secretary Karen Bradley said in June that she was likely to refer Fox’s purchase of Sky for an additional review, setting the merger up for many additional months of delays.

Bradley said she was concerned that the transaction could give the Murdoch family too much influence over British media. The Murdochs already control three British newspapers — The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.

Full Content: BBC News & The Guardian

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