Hunt expected to give go-ahead for News Coporation's BSkyB deal
As expected, a further week of public consultation will take place around the News Corporation bid to buy the remaining shares of satellite broadcaster BSkyB with culture secretary Jeremy Hunt set to give his approval for the deal to proceed.
Hunt, who has been presiding over the advancement of the deal for months, has given the public until 8 July to respond to the potential deal, after which he will decided whether to allow the deal to be completed or not.
Should he offer his approval, Sky News will become a separate company, in order to avoid complaints by media competitors over media plurality.
The consultation has already seen 40,000 people offer responses, although none have blocked the deal.
The National Union of Journalists has already stated its intention to demonstrate outside the headquarters of Department of Culture, Media and Sport on the day Hunt announces his decision.
Last week. The Drum revealed that the BBC had put forward concerns to Ofcom over the possibility of Sky News becoming the official news source for ITN and Channel 4 News next year when the tender to provide news coverage, currently held by ITN, goes out again – which would have caused more concern around media plurality and the dominance of News International.