21st Century Fox's Offices in 10 Hammersmith Grove Raided by EC Officials
Competition watchdogs are investigating possible sports broadcasting 'cartel'
The London offices of Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox in 10 Hammersmith Grove have been raided by officials from the European commission.
The raid, carried out yesterday, 10 April were part of an investigation by competition watchdogs into potential abuse of Fox's dominant position in the broadcasting of major sports events, or a possible sports broadcasting 'cartel'.
A spokesman for Fox said: "Fox Networks Group (FNG) is cooperating fully with the EC inspection." FNG is an operating unit of Fox, which distributes TV and cable channels and content around the world.
A commission spokesman said: "The European commission can confirm that on 10 April its officials carried out unannounced inspections in several member states at the premises of companies active in the distribution of media rights and related rights pertaining to various sports events and/or their broadcasting.
"Unannounced inspections are a preliminary step into suspected anticompetitive practices."
Documents and computer records were reportedly taken during the raid, which had been prompted by concerns of the regulators in Brussels that Fox "may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices".
Fox has been under scrutiny by regulators in London and Brussels as it attempts to take over Sky by buying the 61% of Sky that it does not currently own.
In January the UK’s competition and markets authority provisionally found that if the deal went ahead as planned, it would give the Murdoch family too much control over news providers in the UK.
To help allay these fears, Disney has offered to buy Sky News to help Murdoch seal the £11.7 billion takeover of Sky.
That would then clear the way for Disney’s proposed £47 bilion takeover of most of 21st Century Fox, including all of Sky.
Politicians, including the former Labour leader Ed Miliband, the Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, and the Conservative MP Ken Clarke have called for the deal to be blocked.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority aided the officials in their raid of the offices.
Fox has occupied space within 10 Hammersmith Grove, one of two new neighbouring office blocks to the north of Lyric Square, for the last four years.
April 11, 2018
