21st Century Fox Takeover of Sky Faces Further British Inquiry
Two politically independent regulators in Britain — the Office of Communications, or Ofcom;
and the Competition and Markets Authority — began reviewing the proposed takeover, and attention quickly focused on Ofcom’s investigation, which looked into whether the deal would limit consumer choice and whether 21st Century Fox executives met British broadcasting standards.
“Fox has represented to Ofcom that no executive director was aware of any allegations of sexual
and racial harassment at Fox News prior to July 2016,” Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer representing several current and former Fox News employees who made sexual and racial harassment complaints against the network, said in an email.
By MARK SCOTT and EMILY STEELJUNE 29, 2017
Rupert Murdoch may have to wait another six months to find out whether his long quest to buy Sky will become a reality after British
authorities on Thursday asked regulators to further examine 21st Century Fox’s deal for the European satellite giant.
British officials also did not hold back in their criticism of the sexual harassment scandal
at Fox News, which, they said, had amounted to “significant corporate failures.”
In its ruling, Ofcom found that the scandals at Fox News had been extremely serious and disturbing, according to its report published on Thursday.