Rupert Murdoch has gone public about the UK Competition Commission's ruling that his BSkyB company should be forced to sell some of its shares in ITV.
As previously reported, competition authorities said that BSkyB buying a 17.9% stake in one of its major competitors, while not against media ownership rules, was anti-competitive. They've been told to reduce their stake from 17.9% to 7.5%. While there is actually quite a lot of interest in Sky's ITV stake among other broadcasters, most notably Channel Five owner RTL, it's thought that, given the current economic climate and the slump in TV advertising hitting ITV's financial performance, Sky stand to lose out big time by selling their shares in ITV now rather than later.
Speaking at the AGM of his News Corp empire, Murdoch said the Competition Commission's decision to force the share sale, a decision Sky may as yet appeal for a second time, was unjust. He told the meeting: "The purchase of those shares in ITV was totally within the law. It's a huge injustice that Sky has suffered and it's still subject to court review".