Sky has until February 25th to decide whether to appeal the Competition Commission’s ruling that it must sell more than half its stake in ITV, a decision that was endorsed by the government this week.

Sky said it will recognise a £343 million (E460m) impairment charge on the whole 17.9 per cent stake in its results for the six months to end December, due next week, because of ITV’s plunging share price.

Opinion is said to be divided at Sky on whether an appeal is worth it. On the letter of competition law they have a good case as 20 per cent holdings are the minium previously taken to threaten undue influence. However compeition and plurality in media ownership is a more subjective judgement and as an appeal is effectively a Judicial Review, Sky would have to show the Comission and the Government willfully or wrecklessly misinterpreted the rules.

Other posts by :

1. Zombies; channels, ads, viewers
2. Bank: AST SpaceMobile has 2 year head start on Starlink
3. SpaceX wraps IPO; 8,000 launches by 2030
4. Markets braced for SpaceX IPO
5. Former SpaceX exec to build ‘space taxis’
6. Eutelsat shares crash despite good news
7. Analyst: Years of subs growth ahead for Starlink
8. SES CEO: “Multi-orbit is now key”
9. More details emerge on SpaceX IPO

Categories: Articles, Business, M&A