Sky’s Man Utd Bid May Have Been Turned Down

BSkyB’s controversial £623 million bid for Manchester United has been rejected by the Monopolies & Mergers Commission’s investigation, according to an article in the Daily Telegraph this morning. Quoting sources close to the Department of Trade & Industry, which is now considering the MMC’s report, the newspaper says that the Commission has found the proposed takeover to be against the public interest.

The MMC passed its recommendation to the Trade and Industry Secretary, Stephen Byers, on the 12 March (see MMC Submits Report On BSkyB Man Utd Bid To DTI) and he is expected to announce his decision some time next month. The DTI Secretary is not obligated to follow the MMC’s recommendations, whatever they may be.

The DTI will not comment on any speculation surrounding the MMC report as it is unpublished and confidential. According to the Daily Telegraph, however, the MMC has found that BSkyB’s ownership of the club may give the broadcaster an unfair advantage when negotiating to buy the TV rights to Premiership games. If the deal were to go ahead it is also likely that a number of other media companies would make moves to purchase football clubs. This, in turn, could effect the way television coverage of matches is distributed.

However, the Daily Telegraph report contradicts earlier articles in the both the Mirror and the Guardian. These papers claimed that the merger was likely to go ahead and that the MMC had not found sufficient grounds for it to be blocked – a few, relatively minor conditions were expected to be stipulated.

At ten o’clock this morning shares in BSkyB had fallen by 10.3p to 539.5p; Manchester United stock had dropped by 15.5p to 224.5p.

Department of Trade & Industry: 0171 215 5971 Monopolies & Mergers Commission: 0171 324 1467 BSkyB: 0171 705 3000 Manchester United Football Club: 0161 872 3488