A bidding war is erupting between 21st Century Fox and Comcast over the acquisition of British-based media group Sky News.
The British government announced Tuesday that they would no longer prevent the sale to Fox on the condition that it will sell Sky News to another organization, The Guardian reported.
Since December 2016, the deal has faced an intense regulatory hurdle process brought on by concerns that the deal would give Fox’s owner Rupert Murdoch too much influence over British news.
In a separate deal, however, Murdoch has already agreed to sell $52 billion dollars in TV and film assets to Disney.
With a rapidly evolving media landscape, companies are fighting to compete with major online media companies like Amazon and Netflix. Fox is attempting to consolidate their authority around Sky News, angling to buy up the remaing 61 percent of shares.
In April, Comcast’s rival, Disney, offered to acquire Sky News through their larger bid to fulfill the regulatory requirement attached to the deal.
But now that Comcast has thrown their offer into the ring, Sky’s independent advisory board is withdrawing their recommendation of the £18.5 billion ($24.7 billion) sale to Fox, setting the stage for a dramatic bidding war between the two media giants.
Comcast’s competing offering is £22 billion (approximately $30 billion), while Fox has already upped the ante, offering to fund Sky News for at least 15 years, five more than it’s original offer of 10 years.
Murdoch has also reiterated his pledge to keep Sky independent, saying he will not attempt to exercise editorial control at the company.
