Culture secretary Matt Hancock expected to make decision on Rupert Murdoch’s Sky takeover this week
Culture secretary Matt Hancock is this week expected to reveal whether Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox will be given clearance to take over Sky and bat off a rival bid from Comcast.
If Hancock gives Murdoch the go-ahead, the media mogul will buy the 61 per cent stake in Sky he does not already own. It comes after the culture secretary told Murdoch he would need to sell Sky News and underwrite its funding for 15 years after concerns were raised over Fox owning a large portion of the UK media.
Read more: Hancock: Sky-Fox deal can proceed if Sky News is divested
Competing bidder Comcast has until the end of this week to make its own offer for Sky, but if Murdoch is given the green light then the company may have to go back to the drawing board.
Fox originally made its offer for Sky back in December 2016, but a long process of investigations from Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority has slowed the deal's progress.
The deal for Sky comes as Disney and Comcast compete for a number of Fox's assets, such as streaming platform Hulu and its movie studio which is behind successful films like Deadpool.
Read more: Disney and Fox table new measures to clear way for £11.7bn Sky takeover