24th May 2007 09:33
Dept Trade & Industry24 May 2007 British Sky Broadcasting/ITV statement Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alistair Darling, has today referredBritish Sky Broadcasting Group's acquisition of a 17.9% stake in ITV plc to theCompetition Commission under Section 45(2) of the Enterprise Act. In accordancewith Section 47(2) of that Act, the Competition Commission must now conduct adetailed investigation into the effects of the transaction both on competitionand on the specified public interest consideration relating to the plurality ofpersons with control of media enterprises. Alistair Darling said "My decision reflects consideration of the reports I havereceived from both the Office of Fair Trading and Ofcom and of otherrepresentations I have received about this matter. On the basis of the evidencebefore me, a fuller investigation by the Competition Commission is justified." Alistair Darling issued an intervention notice in respect of this transaction on26 February 2007 requiring the Office of Fair Trading and Ofcom to submitreports to him which they did on 27 April. At that time, the Office of Fair Trading announced its key competition findingsthat a relevant merger situation has been created; that it has resulted, or maybe expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition within a marketor markets in the UK; and that the competition concerns could not be remedied byundertakings provided by the parties. Similarly, Ofcom announced its key findings that the transaction does raisepublic interest issues relating to the plurality of news provision to the UKaudience for both cross-media and television news. Notes to editors 1. The full text of Alistair Darling's statement to Parliament on this matter isattached to this press notice and will be made available on the DTI websiteshortly. A reference decision document is also being published today on the DTIwebsite. 2. Section 42(2) of the Enterprise Act 2002 provides that the Secretary of Statemay intervene in mergers where he considers that it is or may be the case that aspecified public interest consideration is relevant to a consideration of therelevant merger. The public interest consideration specified in this case isthe one at Section 58(2C)(a) of the Enterprise Act 2002. This is as follows: "58(2C)(a) the need, in relation to every different audience in the UnitedKingdom or in a particular area or locality of the UK, for there to be asufficient plurality of persons with control of the media enterprises servingthat audience. 3. Following Alistair Darling's decision of 26 February to issue a publicinterest intervention, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and Ofcom providedreports to him under Sections 44 and 44A of the Enterprise Act. At the timethey provided these reports, the OFT and Ofcom also issued press releasesannouncing their key findings. Copies of these may be found on the OFT and Ofcomwebsites at http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2007/68-07 and http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2007/04/nr_20070427. 4. The reference to the Competition Commission is being made under section 45(2) of the Enterprise Act 2002. The Competition Commission must now conduct adetailed investigation into the effects of the transaction both on competitionand on the specified public interest consideration relating to media pluralityin accordance with Section 47 of the Enterprise Act and, under Section 50 of theAct, report to the Secretary of State. Under Section 51 of the Enterprise Act,they have 24 weeks from the date of the reference to report although thisdeadline may be extended by 8 weeks if there are special reasons why this isnecessary. The Secretary of State must then take decisions in accordance withSection 54 of the Act on whether to make an adverse public interest finding and,if so, to take appropriate enforcement action in accordance with Section 55 ofthe Act. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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