U.K. Clears Way for Comcast's Sky Bid as Race Tightens With Fox

Joe Mayes, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. government intends to allow Comcast Corp.’s 22 billion-pound ($30 billion) bid for Sky Plc to move ahead, a boost for the U.S. cable giant as it vies with 21st Century Fox Inc. for Britain’s largest pay-TV company.

Comcast’s offer for Sky doesn’t trigger public-interest concerns that would meet the threshold for intervention, Culture Secretary Matt Hancock said in a statement.

The decision could put Comcast ahead of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox in the regulatory race for Sky, as Fox is still expecting the final call on its 11.7-billion pound bid for the 61 percent of the broadcaster it doesn’t own in the coming weeks. Hancock has invited interested parties to give feedback on his intention by Thursday, after which he will come to a final decision.

Representatives for Comcast and Fox didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Sky declined to comment.

Comcast’s 12.50 pounds per share Sky offer is at a 40 percent premium to Fox’s bid. Sky’s shares have traded consistently above the Comcast offer as investors anticipate a higher counteroffer from Fox.

If Fox wins the tussle for Sky, it plans to sell the pay-TV company to Walt Disney Co. as part of the $52.4 billion acquisition by Disney of most of Murdoch’s media assets announced in December.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Phil Serafino