BSkyB loses battle as court orders firm to cut ITV stake

The long drawn battle between media mogul Rupert Murdoch owned satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and the UK Court of Appeal came to an end yesterday with the latter ruling against the broadcaster, asking it to reduce its stake in rival ITV to below 7.5 per cent from 17.9 per cent.

Giving his ruling, Lord Justice Lloyd refused permission to take the case to the Supreme Court but Sky can apply directly to that court for a hearing.

"We will review the judgement and order carefully and consider next steps in due course," the company said after the ruling.

The company bought the stake for £940 million in 2006, in a move widely interpreted as an attempt by the media major to block preliminary merger talks then taking place between ITV, the UK's biggest commercial broadcaster, and Virgin Media Inc., a move disapproved by the UK's competition (See: UK Competition Commissioner wants BSkyB to divest ITV stake).

Cable firm NTL has dropped its £4.7 billion ($9.3 billion) bid to acquire ITV, after BSkyB bought a 17.9-per cent stake in the company. (See: NTL drops ITV bid, takes BSkyB to regulators).

The Competition Commission had already ruled that BSkyB's stake gave it undue influence in the UK media and was not in the public interest.