Comcast to win unconditional EU okay for Sky bid: sources

[June 09, 2018]  By Foo Yun Chee
 
 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. cable company Comcast is set to gain unconditional EU antitrust approval for its bid to buy European pay-TV company Sky , two people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

 A British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB) logo is seen at the company's UK headquarters in west London July 25, 2014. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

The world's biggest entertainment company is battling Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox for Sky. The media mogul bid's to buy all of Sky has been delayed by politicians and regulators worried about the power of the enlarged media group.

The European Commission, which is scheduled to decide on Comcast's offer by June 15, did not respond to a request for comment by email. It cleared without conditions Fox's bid for Sky in April last year.

Comcast declined to comment.

Earlier this week, Britain gave the green light to Fox's bid to acquire all of Sky on condition it sold off its TV news business. Fox now owns 39 percent of Sky, which has operations in Germany, Austria, Italy and Britain.

Sky's 23 million customers makes it an invaluable asset to any media group seeking to better compete against online groups Netflix and Amazon.

Murdoch has already agreed to sell many of his TV and film assets, including Sky, to Walt Disney Co in a separate $52 billion deal.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Additional reporting by Kate Holton in London; Editing by Louise Heavens and Edmund Blair)

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