- BSkyB ordered to cut ITV stake
- BSkyB has been ordered to sell the majority of its controversial 17.9% stake in ITV.
Today's long-awaited Competition Appeal Tribunal ruling, that the shareholding must be reduced to under 7.5% as ordered previously by the Competition Commission and secretary of state John Hutton, leaves Sky facing a £650m loss on its investment.
The satellite broadcaster is understood to be considering yet another appeal, further lengthening a process that began with then chief executive James Murdoch's dramatic decision to snap up ITV shares in November 2006.
Delaying the process could help save Sky hundreds of millions of pounds. Since it bought the stake, ITV's shares have collapsed and Sky is unlikely now to get close to the 135p per share it originally spent.
Avoiding an immediate "fire sale" through yet another appeal may give ITV boss Michael Grade time to show some sort of turnaround of the troubled broadcaster and improve the share price.
Sky has been given a set period to reduce its stake - believed to be about six months - but if it appeals it can request a suspension of that remedy while it argues at the court of appeal and potentially the House of Lords or even European court of justice.
When James Murdoch spent £940m of Sky's cash on the 17.9% stake, the move was seen as an attempt to scupper Virgin Media's proposed merger with ITV at a time when the broadcaster was rudderless in the wake of Charles Allen's ousting that August.
Since Sky swooped, ITV has appointed former BBC chairman Grade but delays in generating cash from its online and international operations, a raft of phone-in scandals and a dramatic downturn in the advertising market over recent months have all pushed ITV's shares to record lows.
Info from guardian.co.uk