Report Overview


Notice: Undefined variable: post in /home/virtinalabs/public_html/venture.virtinalabs.net/wp-content/themes/septera-plus/woocommerce/single-report.php on line 69

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /home/virtinalabs/public_html/venture.virtinalabs.net/wp-content/themes/septera-plus/woocommerce/single-report.php on line 69

News Corp’s bid for BSkyB: not just a matter of price


Notice: Undefined variable: newDownloads in /home/virtinalabs/public_html/venture.virtinalabs.net/wp-content/themes/septera-plus/woocommerce/single-report.php on line 132

Notice: Undefined variable: post_id in /home/virtinalabs/public_html/venture.virtinalabs.net/wp-content/themes/septera-plus/woocommerce/single-report.php on line 138

Notice: Undefined index: pdf in /home/virtinalabs/public_html/venture.virtinalabs.net/wp-content/themes/septera-plus/woocommerce/single-report.php on line 157

Notice: Undefined variable: link in /home/virtinalabs/public_html/venture.virtinalabs.net/wp-content/themes/septera-plus/woocommerce/single-report.php on line 386
News Corp’s bid for the shares it does not own in BSkyB is unlikely to generate much concern at the OFT because newspapers and TV will be seen as being in separate markets.
But, separately, the Secretary of State for Business, Vince Cable, is entitled to make a ‘public interest’ intervention that requires the plurality issue to be assessed alongside the competition investigation over the next few weeks.
We think that there is a strong case that the transaction does raise substantial issues of ‘plurality’ as defined in the Court of Appeal judgment on the purchase of ITV shares by BSkyB in 2006.1 Whether the new Secretary of State has the stomach for a fight with the company must be open to substantial doubt.