UK newspapers join BBC in opposition to BSkyB deal

UK newspapers and the British Broadcasting Corp asked the government to block Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Corp’s bid to take over the rest of British Sky Broadcasting Group, saying it harms the public interest.

In a joint letter, the director general of the BBC and the owners of newspapers including the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian demanded that Business Secretary Vince Cable challenge the deal. The companies wrote that the takeover would expand News Corp’s control of UK media outlets. The BBC, Guardian Media Group Plc, phone operator BT Group Plc and Channel Four Television Corp confirmed sending the letter.

“We believe that the proposed takeover could have serious and far-reaching consequences for media plurality,” according to the letter posted on the Financial Times’ Alphaville website.

Murdoch’s News Corp in June offered £7.8 billion ($12.4 billion) in its initial bid for the 61 per cent it doesn’t already own of BSkyB, the UK’s biggest pay-television operator. BSkyB rejected the offer as too little, and the final price of the deal won’t be negotiated until regulatory approval is received. News Corp owns the Times, Sunday Times and Sun newspapers in the UK.

BSkyB shares dropped 0.3 per cent to 707 pence as of 12.52 pm in London. News Corp declined 0.4 per cent to $13.83 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

The objection may put the coalition government of Prime Minister David Cameron in a quandary. Murdoch’s newspaper the Sun, which is the country’s biggest tabloid, backed Cameron’s Conservative Party in Britain’s May general election.

Cable, a member of the Liberal-Democrat party — the Cameron government’s coalition partner — led by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, has authority to intervene in deals over concerns about media plurality.