LONDON: Rupert Murdoch’s Fox is hoping the creation of an independent editorial board to protect the news channel at bid target Sky will satisfy regulators and allow it to finally take control of the European pay-TV group.

Britain’s competition regulator told Twenty-First Century Fox last month that Murdoch’s near eight-year, $15.7 billion pursuit of Sky would be blocked unless a way is found to prevent the media mogul from influencing Sky News after a deal.

Fox had earlier offered to create an editorial board with a majority of independent directors. People familiar with the matter, lawyers and investors believe a stronger mechanism to guarantee independence should be enough to gain approval.

The takeover is being closely watched in the United States where Fox has agreed to sell most of its assets including Sky to Walt Disney Co, which wants to buy all of Sky in the deal and not just the 39 per cent that Fox already owns.

Fox is likely to have taken encouragement from a comment from the regulator that given that Fox may not own Sky for long, it will be willing to accept the most cost-effective solution.

“Fox are still confident they can get the deal done,” a person familiar with the situation said. “They’re working on new suggestions for the remedies.”

As Britain’s biggest owner of national newspapers, every move by Murdoch is scrutinised by his political allies and enemies alike. Britain’s competition regulator worries that a deal to own all of Sky News would give him too much sway over public opinion.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s government has the final say on the deal, but will have to stick to the regulator’s advice or face possible legal action.

Lawyers and consultants think Fox can land Sky by offering a fully independent board for Sky News and long-term funding, preventing it from having to make the more costly option of spinning off the channel or selling it completely.

Sky, Europe’s leading pay-TV provider in 23 million homes across Britain, Ireland, Austria, Germany and Italy, has kept up the pressure by warning it could close the loss-making but award-winning channel if it prevented a takeover.

Sky News launched in 1989 when Murdoch, having shaken up the newspaper market, sought to smash the dominance of the BBC and commercial network ITV by launching four channels as part of a new paid-for satellite service.

Reuters