MUMBAI: News Corp has got the nod from UK’s culture minister Jeremy Hunt to gobble up the remaining 61 per cent of Sky for ?8 billion, a move that will give it complete ownership of the satellite broadcaster.

Hunt found the News Corp proposal acceptable after the company agreed it would spin-off Sky News into a separate, publicly-traded entity.
 
UK regulator Ofcom had raised concerns about media plurality issues. By hiving off Sky News into a separate entity, the proposed deal would not find the Competition Commission as a roadblock.

Hunt said: “The undertakings offered would ensure that shareholdings in Sky News would remain unchanged, and indeed offer it more independence from News Corp than it currently has.
 
“Throughout this process I have been very aware of the potential controversy surrounding this merger. Nothing is more precious to me than the free and independent press for which this country is famous the world over.”
An Ofcom spokesman said: “We are pleased that News Corp has agreed in the proposed undertakings to place editorial independence and integrity at the heart of ‘NewCo’ and to underpin this with arrangements that secure full independent governance.”