Rupert Murdoch, chairman of The News Corporation, attacked the Government on Friday after BSkyB’s annual shareholders’ meeting, calling it ‘excessively cautious’ and ‘paranoid’.
The £623 million bid which Murdoch’s BSkyB group made for the Manchester United football club was referred to the Monopolies And Mergers Commission late last week (see Newsline) by Peter Mandelson, who was acting on advice given by the Office Of Fair Trading.
Murdoch claims that his bid for the football giant was referred to the MMC for political reasons, rather than due to worries over issues of competition. Despite this however, he stated that he was not blaming Peter Mandelson for the referral, but instead claimed that the government was being unduly influenced ‘by a few paranoid hacks in Fleet Street.’
According to a CIA Sensor survey carried out in September, only 17% of people questioned thought that the BSkyB bid should be allowed to go ahead, with 57% of people opposed to the deal (see Newsline).
BSkyB released its financial results at the end of last week (see Newsline), and announced that it is to take on 1200more staff to deal with the demand for its recently launched digital service.
BSkyB: 0171 705 3200
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