A rollercoaster seven-days in the story of News Corp’s bid for BSkyB. Julian Clover takes a breath
Never has a story moved so fast or so slow. While checking some details on the News of the World phone hacking story I was astounded that it had been five years since the jailing of former Royal editor Clive Goodman. But while Sunday was the last edition of the best-selling tabloid, events would move faster still, and even the withdrawal of News Corp’s offer for the 61% of BSkyB it did not already own failed to put the brakes on.
All the way through UK concerns have centered on the plurality of news provision, hence the undertakings to spin-off Sky News, withdrawn on Monday. Already it seems so long ago. While an even-handed news media is an essential part of democracy one could be surprised that the buying power an enlarged News Corp European television division might have.
We’ve already had the pay-TV investigation, largely centered on football and movies, but what of the purchase of HBO content or even Glee when a single Platinum card could also be brought out for Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland.
The fit and proper persons test has also come to the fore, with about as little knowledge as to what it means as the parliamentary procedures for summoning two foreign nationals to appear before a committee.
Once it was realised that the test was actually a part of Ofcom’s everyday responsibilities then the excitement turned to maybe running it on News Corp’s existing 39%.
Obviously you don’t want people that bribe the Police or listen in in on other people’s phone calls running a TV channel, but so far nothing has been proven, and in any case they are distinctly separate people.
UK subsidiary News International has been kept very much apart from Sky, even if News Corp does effectively hold management control on its 39% holding. Given the performance of the business it is unlikely there would be any complaints from the pension funds.
There has been more movement of staff between Sky’s Italian and German platforms than there has with the folks from Wapping, give or take the odd newspaper column, such as that in The Sunday Times by weather presenter Isobel Lang, or Mike Atherton who doubles as The Times cricket correspondent and a Sky Sports commentator.
Arguably the only person with a dual role is that of BSkyB chairman James Murdoch, who may have blotted his copybook by saying he would not be available for the committee until August, but no one is sure if even that is a true misdemeanor.
