surprise raid ofEU antitrust in a London office of the American company 21st Century Fox. The operation is part of an investigation into sports rights and content distribution. The news has been spread from the Daily Telegraph.
The European Commission has limited itself to confirming the inspections in the offices of companies "active in the distribution of media rights and related rights concerning various sporting events and/or their broadcasting". However, the EU executive did not specify which groups are targeted and said that the inspections are a preliminary move to understand whether there have been any anti-competitive practices.
In a statement, Fox Networks Group (FNG) - a division of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, whose main businesses are sports and TV entertainment - said it was "fully cooperating".
The EU Commission fears that the companies involved "may have violated EU antitrust laws which prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices", reads a statement.
According to the Daily Telegraph, prosecutors have been told to keep details of the searches under wraps, which may continue until tomorrow.
The search began at a sensitive time for Rupert Murdoch's media empire, which owns 39% of Sky and wants to go up to 100% of satellite pay TV. On April 3, 21st Century Fox said it was willing to sell the Sky News channel to Walt Disney, the entertainment giant that under the agreement signed in December 2017 will acquire Murdoch's assets for $52,4 billion.
In this way the media mogul hopes to achieve the go-ahead from the Competition and Markets Authority (Cma, the British Antitrust) Murdoch's growth in Sky. Within the next month, the CMA is expected to provide the British Minister of Culture with recommendations on the operation, indicating whether it should be blocked or allowed.
Meanwhile, to take advantage of the searches could be Comcast, intent on putting a spoke in Murdoch's works. On February 27, the American cable TV operator - which controls NBC Universal, Universal Studios and DreamWorks Animation - announced a "possible higher cash offer" than that of Fox to take control of Sky.
