Sky warns it could pull the plug on Sky News if Fox takeover is blocked

The future of Sky News might be in danger, should 21st Century Fox's £11.7bn bid to take full control of the broadcaster be blocked by Britain's competition watchdog.

Earlier this year, the pay-TV company accepted a takeover offer from the parent company of Fox News, which is currently being examined by the UK government, on grounds that owning Sky would give media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who owns both Fox and several newspapers under the News UK umbrella, too much control of the British media landscape.

In September, culture secretary Karen Bradley said the bid, which was approved a majority of Sky shareholders and subsequently approved by the European Commission, could merit further investigation and referred the bid to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

In a statement setting out the scope of its six-month investigation, the CMA said it assumed Sky News would continue to compete against rival broadcasters, such as the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV, should the deal be blocked.

However, on Tuesday (7 November), Sky replied that: "The CMA should not simply assume the 'continued provision of Sky News' and its current contribution to plurality, 'absent the transaction'.

"Sky would likely be prompted to review the position in the event that the continued provision of Sky News in its current form unduly impeded merger and/or other corporate opportunities available in relation to Sky's broader business,"

The CMA will investigate what impact the takeover would have on the plurality of British media, as it would lead to the leading to the Murdoch family controlling the Times, Sunday Times, Sun, Wall Street Journal and Sky News.

To complicate matters even further, the telecoms regulator has already expressed "significant concerns" over the two options normally used to solve issues of media plurality, known as behaviourial and structural remedies.

The former would see Sky News appoint an independent board of directors and a five-year funding guarantee, while the latter would consist of a complete structural spinoff of Sky News.

However, Ofcom has said the first option would only be viable if Fox boosted plans for board independence and strengthen its funding offer, which the regulator has already proposed.

The structural remedy, meanwhile, was accepted when Fox submitted a similar bid for Sky in 2011 but would not be accepted this time.