Sky told to flog ITV shares

Government regulators have demanded that Sky offload most of its stake in ITV because it threatens competition in the TV market, and could harm consumers. The Murdoch-owned broadcaster bought 17.9 per cent of ITV earlier this year, in what was widely interpreted as a spoiler to a mooted takeover by Virgin Media. The …

[William]

Watch this space...

Because if the government force Murdoch to sell those shares then you can bet any money the Sun, the News of the World and the Times will start a smear campaign against Labour. Just to teach them a lesson not to mess with the big Boys.

[William]

I put a question on the Times Website.

Basically asking them if their paper and their sister papers, The Sun and The News of the World will start a hate campaign against Labour if they force the sale of ITV.

I wonder if they will publish it?

[jai]

and if they dont?

what happens if Sky don't comply? are there restrictions or fines or something that will be levied against them? will that cost more than the 200m loss, considering they'll probably just put up their prices to recoup the loss?

[Dave]

@William

Given that Labour are currently unpopular, you'd have thought that the Sun and NoTW would already be on the bandwagon of slagging them off. If Murdoch thinks the Tories are likely to win then he'll switch sides again so as to be able to claim he helped them win.

Not that I read his papers or watch his TV anyway...

[Pete James]

North Utsire: Southerly 2 or 3. Moderate. Fair. Good

I can see the Government dragging their feet and having some long-running enquiry that goes nowhere, allowing Murdoch to get shot of his shares at his leisure to minimise any potential loss.

[Guy]

What do you mean "Start"

"you can bet any money the Sun, the News of the World and the Times will start a smear campaign against Labour" It might be just me, but they started this a couple of months ago!!

Or could this just be that it doesn't matter which political party you belong to, you just need to be an egotistical, self serving, corrupt person to be able to serve your community.

As they say, politics is just showbiz for ugly people

[Mark SPLINTER]

Scraping the barrel

It is impossible to "reduce the quality of the offer" below that currently offered by ITV and Sky.