Church of England Opposed News Corp.'s Buyout Bid

The Church of England fearing that News Corp.'s buyout of full control of satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting would give News Corp. a potentially dominant position in the British media market joined the group opposing the buyout on 22 November 2010. The church intends to preserve the integrity of Sky News, which competes with the British Broadcasting Corp. in the 24-hour television news market.

News Corp., the parent company of Rupert Murdoch's media holdings sought to acquire the 61 percent of BSkyB shares that it does not already own. News Corp. already has full ownership of four major British newspapers: The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and the News of the World. The British Broadcasting Corp., the Telegraph newspapers, the Daily Mail and internet provider BT Group PLC are opposing the News Corp. bid along with the Church of England.