21st Century Fox Responds To U.K. Secretary Of State's Announcement

(RTTNews) - 21st Century Fox (FOX, FOXA) said that it welcomed today's announcement by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport that he intends to accept the final undertakings proposed by 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company with a view to clearing 21CF's proposed acquisition of the remaining shares in Sky on media plurality grounds. The undertakings are now subject to a 15-day public consultation.

Under the final proposal submitted by 21CF, Sky News would be divested to Disney following the close of the Sky transaction and 21CF has committed to increase its funding of Sky News to 15 years under Disney's ownership.

21st Century Fox said it now looks forward to a final decision clearing transaction.

Separately, Sky said it welcomed today's written ministerial statement by the Secretary of State for Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport regarding 21CF's offer for Sky.

The Secretary of State has said that the revised undertakings offered by 21CF and Disney successfully meet the criteria he set out to Parliament on 5 June 2018 to address the concerns raised by the Competition and Markets Authority in respect of media plurality. The Secretary of State has confirmed that the undertakings are now in a form he proposes to accept.

As per the rule, there will be a short period of public consultation on these agreed final undertakings. The statutory consultation period will end on 4 July 2018, following which the Secretary of State is expected to make a final decision.

As 21CF has received all other competition and regulatory approvals in relation to its offer for Sky, the UK approval process remains the only outstanding pre-condition prior to 21CF's offer being put to Sky shareholders.