Bloomberg News
A 21st Century Fox office in the U.K. received a surprise inspection Tuesday by European Commission investigators, who are conducting an antitrust probe into sports rights and distribution of sports content.
The European Commission acknowledged “unannounced inspections” on Tuesday in several member countries at the office of companies “active in the distribution of media rights and related rights pertaining to various sports events and/or their broadcasting.”
In a statement, the Commission didn’t name the companies involved and said the inspections are a preliminary step into “suspected anticompetitive practices.” In a statement, Fox Networks Group said it “is cooperating fully with the EC inspection.” The statement offered no further details.
The investigators entered the Hammersmith, England, offices of Fox Networks Group, a division of 21st Century Fox FOX, +1.33% , according to a person familiar with the matter. FNG’s main businesses in Europe are sports and TV entertainment.
21st Century Fox and News Corp , the parent company of MarketWatch and the Wall Street Journal, share common ownership.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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