Church of England opposes News Corp's BSkyB bid
The Church of England has called for News Corporation's bid to take full control of BSkyB to be blocked.
The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, voiced his fears about the bid in a submission to Ofcom.
He said: "Our concerns are not about the nature of News Corporation - indeed, we would make these comments whichever commercial organisation might find itself in a potentially dominant market position.
"A News Corporation in full control of BSkyB would combine one of the three significant suppliers of TV news (BBC, ITN and BSkyB), one of the two suppliers of radio news (BBC, BSkyB) and the group with the biggest market share of national press in the UK.
"It would dominate both the television and newspaper landscape."
The deal has already been referred to an inquiry by the business secretary Vince Cable after complaints from rival media companies.
McCulloch suggested that the editorial independence of Sky News would come under scrutiny if the deal went ahead.
He said: "Though BSkyB is not a public service broadcaster, Sky News contributes to public service purposes in the broadest sense. Even though its market share is small it has, for example, often been an influential voice in political debate.
"If BSkyB comes under the full control of News Corporation, however, the fear is that even though Sky News would still have to abide by requirements for due impartiality, there would always be the potential for the exercise of subtle editorial influence, not least in the process of selecting which news items are to be covered and which left out."