BSkyB has proposed putting 3% of its stake in ITV into a trust in a bid to overcome concerns raised recently by the Competition Commission regarding its 17.9% stake in the third channel broadcaster.
As previously reported, the Commission, not to mention Sky rival Virgin Media, have expressed concern that Sky could use its share in ITV, which it bought last year, to influence decisions made by ITV management to BSkyB's commercial advantage. The Commission is currently considering remedies that would address its concerns, which could include forcing Sky to sell its ITV shares.
But the satellite broadcaster is hoping that putting 3% of its stake into trust, and thereby reducing its voting rights over the company, might be sufficient. A spokesman for Sky said this week that the company hoped to satisfy the Commission through "the simple and well-established structural mechanism of disposing of the voting rights which give rise to the provisional finding of material influence [by] placing them in a voting trust with a respected institutional trustee". The Commission are yet to respond to the proposal.