Jeremy Hunt, culture secretary, is expected to delay until September his verdict on whether to allow Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to proceed in its bid to take full control of British Sky Broadcasting, the satellite broadcaster, after a deluge of last-minute submissions on the deal.
The deadline for the submissions is Friday July 8, but the controversy over phone hacking at the News of the World – Mr Murdoch’s Sunday tabloid newspaper – has seen submissions rise from an estimated 60,000 to over 100,000 today.
In a first round of consultation last March, the government received 40,000 responses. Reading each one of those took civil servants and outside lawyers three working weeks.
At the same rate, it would take seven and a half weeks to consider 100,000 submissions, taking the earliest date for an announcement to August 30.
Government insiders said there would certainly be no decision before MPs break for their summer recess on July 19 and it would well take until September before Mr Hunt had been able to pore over the submissions and hold further consultations with Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, and the Office of Fair Trading, the competition watchdog.
Shares in BSkyB have fallen this week on fears that the hacking scandal could jeopardise News Corp’s chances of taking full control. Shares in BSkyB were 1.33 per cent lower at 816p on Thursday, taking the losses for the week to more than 4 per cent.
News Corp, which owns 39.1 per cent of BSkyB, plans to offer 700p a share for the remainder, valuing the satellite broadcaster at £12.3bn. However, BSkyB’s independent directors have rejected that bid and are seeking at least 100p a share more. News Corp has said its bid is full and fair.
The delay in the verdict will prove politically expedient for Mr Hunt and David Cameron, prime minister, who will be hoping that the furore over hacking subsides over the summer break.
“There will be a delay but it’s not foot dragging because the government has to go through so many submissions,” said one government insider. “This is due process.”
Mr Cameron has insisted that Mr Hunt, acting in a quasi-judicial role, will stick to the law in deliberating on the bid.
A government official said on Thursday that the high level of submissions – a precise figure was not available at that time – meant there would be a delay in Mr Hunt’s decision.
Chris Goodall, a regulatory specialist with Enders Analysis, said: “News Corp could go to a judge after a few weeks and say that Mr Hunt was acting too slowly, but I can’t believe any judge would say he was taking an unreasonable amount of time if he was taking six to eight weeks, given the weight of submissions.”
The government had been scrambling to see if it could find a legal loophole to delay or even halt the takeover, but lawyers were doubtful that it would find any so late into the process.
However, sitting on the decision after the consultation closes on Friday will buy Mr Hunt some breathing space. The decision was originally expected to have been taken before the Commons recess.
Downing Street said that Mr Hunt’s decision did not have to be announced while the Commons was sitting. MPs return for a short session in early September before full sittings resume in October.
Separately, Scotland Yard said it had called in the Independent Police Complaints Commission to look at allegations that police officers took payments from News of the World journalists.
News International, the newspaper’s parent, said on Tuesday it had passed emails to police showing that Andy Coulson, former editor of the Sunday tabloid and former communications chief for David Cameron, had apparently authorised the payments.
Meanwhile, Downing Street insiders said Mr Cameron was carrying out “urgent work” on setting up inquiries into the phone hacking affair and was expected to make a statement on progress before MPs rise for their summer break on July 19.
But the prime minister remains cautious about the practicalities of running inquiries into media ethics and the botched initial police inquiry into allegations of hacking at the same time that a criminal investigation into the affair is under way.
Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister, wants a judge-led inquiry to ensure the public has confidence in the inquiries, but Mr Cameron says he does not want a repeat of the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday, which took 10 years to complete and cost about £200m.
“It’s important to get this right,” Mr Cameron’s spokesman said. Boris Johnson, London mayor, has called for the inquiry to begin immediately and Mr Cameron knows he could be seen to be dragging his feet on the issue.
Downing Street officials believe it is most likely there would be two inquiries – one into media, one into the police inquiry – and say that Mr Cameron is consulting with Ed Miliband, Labour leader, Dominic Grieve, attorney-general, and others on how to set them up.
Amid reports that police arrests are imminent over the hacking affair, Mr Cameron’s team fear that any public inquiry could cut across the criminal process, given that the same individuals are likely to be called as witnesses.
Mr Cameron told cabinet on Thursday that the inquiries needed to be independent, to be held in public and to ensure that the public had confidence in the results. Downing St has so far refused to say whether a judge should take the lead.
The prime minister on Thursday presided over a Downing Street event to honour police bravery, sponsored by News International’s Sun newspaper. Rebekah Brooks, the group chief executive, was not in attendance. Ms Brooks, the chief executive of News International who was editor of the News of The world at the time of the alleged hacking, is heading a News International probe into the matter
Downing Street said Mr Cameron considered that if proved, allegations that the News of the World hacked the phones of grieving war widows represented a “gross intrusion into the private life of grieving families”.
By SARAH LYALL taken from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/world/europe/07britain.html?_r=2&hp
The deadline for the submissions is Friday July 8, but the controversy over phone hacking at the News of the World – Mr Murdoch’s Sunday tabloid newspaper – has seen submissions rise from an estimated 60,000 to over 100,000 today.
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At the same rate, it would take seven and a half weeks to consider 100,000 submissions, taking the earliest date for an announcement to August 30.
Government insiders said there would certainly be no decision before MPs break for their summer recess on July 19 and it would well take until September before Mr Hunt had been able to pore over the submissions and hold further consultations with Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, and the Office of Fair Trading, the competition watchdog.
Shares in BSkyB have fallen this week on fears that the hacking scandal could jeopardise News Corp’s chances of taking full control. Shares in BSkyB were 1.33 per cent lower at 816p on Thursday, taking the losses for the week to more than 4 per cent.
News Corp, which owns 39.1 per cent of BSkyB, plans to offer 700p a share for the remainder, valuing the satellite broadcaster at £12.3bn. However, BSkyB’s independent directors have rejected that bid and are seeking at least 100p a share more. News Corp has said its bid is full and fair.
The delay in the verdict will prove politically expedient for Mr Hunt and David Cameron, prime minister, who will be hoping that the furore over hacking subsides over the summer break.
“There will be a delay but it’s not foot dragging because the government has to go through so many submissions,” said one government insider. “This is due process.”
Mr Cameron has insisted that Mr Hunt, acting in a quasi-judicial role, will stick to the law in deliberating on the bid.
A government official said on Thursday that the high level of submissions – a precise figure was not available at that time – meant there would be a delay in Mr Hunt’s decision.
Chris Goodall, a regulatory specialist with Enders Analysis, said: “News Corp could go to a judge after a few weeks and say that Mr Hunt was acting too slowly, but I can’t believe any judge would say he was taking an unreasonable amount of time if he was taking six to eight weeks, given the weight of submissions.”
The government had been scrambling to see if it could find a legal loophole to delay or even halt the takeover, but lawyers were doubtful that it would find any so late into the process.
However, sitting on the decision after the consultation closes on Friday will buy Mr Hunt some breathing space. The decision was originally expected to have been taken before the Commons recess.
Downing Street said that Mr Hunt’s decision did not have to be announced while the Commons was sitting. MPs return for a short session in early September before full sittings resume in October.
Separately, Scotland Yard said it had called in the Independent Police Complaints Commission to look at allegations that police officers took payments from News of the World journalists.
News International, the newspaper’s parent, said on Tuesday it had passed emails to police showing that Andy Coulson, former editor of the Sunday tabloid and former communications chief for David Cameron, had apparently authorised the payments.
Meanwhile, Downing Street insiders said Mr Cameron was carrying out “urgent work” on setting up inquiries into the phone hacking affair and was expected to make a statement on progress before MPs rise for their summer break on July 19.
But the prime minister remains cautious about the practicalities of running inquiries into media ethics and the botched initial police inquiry into allegations of hacking at the same time that a criminal investigation into the affair is under way.
Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister, wants a judge-led inquiry to ensure the public has confidence in the inquiries, but Mr Cameron says he does not want a repeat of the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday, which took 10 years to complete and cost about £200m.
“It’s important to get this right,” Mr Cameron’s spokesman said. Boris Johnson, London mayor, has called for the inquiry to begin immediately and Mr Cameron knows he could be seen to be dragging his feet on the issue.
Downing Street officials believe it is most likely there would be two inquiries – one into media, one into the police inquiry – and say that Mr Cameron is consulting with Ed Miliband, Labour leader, Dominic Grieve, attorney-general, and others on how to set them up.
Amid reports that police arrests are imminent over the hacking affair, Mr Cameron’s team fear that any public inquiry could cut across the criminal process, given that the same individuals are likely to be called as witnesses.
Mr Cameron told cabinet on Thursday that the inquiries needed to be independent, to be held in public and to ensure that the public had confidence in the results. Downing St has so far refused to say whether a judge should take the lead.
The prime minister on Thursday presided over a Downing Street event to honour police bravery, sponsored by News International’s Sun newspaper. Rebekah Brooks, the group chief executive, was not in attendance. Ms Brooks, the chief executive of News International who was editor of the News of The world at the time of the alleged hacking, is heading a News International probe into the matter
Downing Street said Mr Cameron considered that if proved, allegations that the News of the World hacked the phones of grieving war widows represented a “gross intrusion into the private life of grieving families”.
By SARAH LYALL taken from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/world/europe/07britain.html?_r=2&hp
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