Sky withdraws recommendation for Fox bid after higher Comcast offer

LONDON (Reuters) - The independent directors of pay-TV group Sky said they were withdrawing their recommendation of a takeover bid from Rupert Murdoch's Fox after U.S. cable company Comcast Corp trumped it with a 22 billion pound ($30.68 billion) offer.

"As a result of the announcement of this higher cash offer, the independent committee is withdrawing its recommendation of the offer announced by Twenty-First Century Fox on 15 December 2016 and is now terminating the Co-operation Agreement entered into with Twenty-First Century Fox on the same date," Sky's independent directors said in a statement on Wednesday.

($1 = 0.7170 pounds)

(Reporting by Sarah Young, editing by James Davey)