Hunt sends BSkyB takeover back to Ofcom over phone hacking
Shares in TV network crash as culture secretary asks regulators whether News Corp remains ‘fit and proper’ owner The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is writing to Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading seeking advice over News Corporation’s bid for BSkyB in the light of phone-hacking revelations and the closure of the News of the World. The news came as BSkyB shares crashed to £7 in early trading, down 6.7% and back to the level of the original News Corp bid. Hunt will ask Ofcom and the OFT, which have been advising him on the bid, whether the spate of revelations that led last week to the closure of the News of the World meant they would take a different view on the deal – and if so, whether they believed the Competition Commission should examine it. Hunt would ask them to look at three aspects, the BBC said , most notably whether News Corporation’s guarantees made in January about the TV network’s independence and future could be trusted in view of the new phone-hacking developments. Additionally, Hunt will ask Ofcom, the media regulator, if the company remains a “fit and proper” owner of BSkyB and whether the closure of the News of the World means the media plurality landscape needs re-examination. The move could be a huge blow to Rupert Murdoch’s empire, suggesting that even the shock closure of the newspaper at the centre of the hacking scandal has not been sufficient to safeguard the BSkyB deal. The bid also looks in potential jeopardy from a Labour House of Commons motion on Wednesday calling for it to be delayed. The motion looks set to receive strong Liberal Democrat support. The Lib Dem party president, the Cumbria MP Tim Farron, told BBC Radio 4 this seemed very likely. “If a legally worded motion comes to the House opposing a further Murdoch takeover of BSkyB I can’t see how Liberal Democrats would vote against that. It is no secret that Liberal Democrats have always opposed the lack of plurality in our media market, and in particular have felt that Rupert Murdoch’s influence on British politics through the media has been nefarious. We’ve thought that for decades.” In yet more bad news for News Corporation’s newspaper arm, News International, police are reportedly seeking to interview its chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, a former News of the World editor. Brooks, whose continued tenure as CEO has prompted widespread criticism, will be interviewed as a potential witness rather than a suspect. Les Hinton, Murdoch’s lifelong lieutenant and closest adviser, also faces questions over whether he saw a 2007 internal News International report that found evidence of phone hacking was more widespread than admitted by the company before he testified to a parliamentary committee that the practice was limited to a single rogue reporter. Last week’s dramatic events were sparked by a Guardian report that News of the World journalists hacked into the mobile phone messages of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler after she disappeared – even deleting some messages, making her family believe she was alive. On Monday the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, is meeting Milly’s mother and sister at an event organised by the Media Standards Trust. BSkyB BSkyB News Corporation Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Media business Les Hinton Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Hunt sends BSkyB takeover back to Ofcom over phone hacking
Shares in TV network crash as culture secretary asks regulators whether News Corp remains ‘fit and proper’ owner The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is writing to Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading seeking advice over News Corporation’s bid for BSkyB in the light of phone-hacking revelations and the closure of the News of the World. The news came as BSkyB shares crashed to £7 in early trading, down 6.7% and back to the level of the original News Corp bid. Hunt will ask Ofcom and the OFT, which have been advising him on the bid, whether the spate of revelations that led last week to the closure of the News of the World meant they would take a different view on the deal – and if so, whether they believed the Competition Commission should examine it. Hunt would ask them to look at three aspects, the BBC said , most notably whether News Corporation’s guarantees made in January about the TV network’s independence and future could be trusted in view of the new phone-hacking developments. Additionally, Hunt will ask Ofcom, the media regulator, if the company remains a “fit and proper” owner of BSkyB and whether the closure of the News of the World means the media plurality landscape needs re-examination. The move could be a huge blow to Rupert Murdoch’s empire, suggesting that even the shock closure of the newspaper at the centre of the hacking scandal has not been sufficient to safeguard the BSkyB deal. The bid also looks in potential jeopardy from a Labour House of Commons motion on Wednesday calling for it to be delayed. The motion looks set to receive strong Liberal Democrat support. The Lib Dem party president, the Cumbria MP Tim Farron, told BBC Radio 4 this seemed very likely. “If a legally worded motion comes to the House opposing a further Murdoch takeover of BSkyB I can’t see how Liberal Democrats would vote against that. It is no secret that Liberal Democrats have always opposed the lack of plurality in our media market, and in particular have felt that Rupert Murdoch’s influence on British politics through the media has been nefarious. We’ve thought that for decades.” In yet more bad news for News Corporation’s newspaper arm, News International, police are reportedly seeking to interview its chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, a former News of the World editor. Brooks, whose continued tenure as CEO has prompted widespread criticism, will be interviewed as a potential witness rather than a suspect. Les Hinton, Murdoch’s lifelong lieutenant and closest adviser, also faces questions over whether he saw a 2007 internal News International report that found evidence of phone hacking was more widespread than admitted by the company before he testified to a parliamentary committee that the practice was limited to a single rogue reporter. Last week’s dramatic events were sparked by a Guardian report that News of the World journalists hacked into the mobile phone messages of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler after she disappeared – even deleting some messages, making her family believe she was alive. On Monday the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, is meeting Milly’s mother and sister at an event organised by the Media Standards Trust. BSkyB BSkyB News Corporation Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Media business Les Hinton Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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on July 11, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News.
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