Sky (LON:SKY) has announced the decision to stop broadcasting Fox in the UK.
21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOX), owned by Rupert Murdoch, has said the decision has nothing to do with its takeover bid for Sky. Instead, it was related to low viewing figures.
“[Fox] has decided to cease providing a feed of Fox News Channel in the UK. Fox News is focused on the US market and designed for a US audience and, accordingly, it averages only a few thousand viewers across the day in the UK. We have concluded that it is not in our commercial interest to continue providing Fox News in the UK.” said a spokesperson for the company.
Removing Fox from Sky channels comes as the culture secretary Karen Bradley is set to make the decision on whether an investigation should be launched by competition regulator into the proposed £11.7 billion takeover bid for Sky.
The deputy Labour leader and shadow culture secretary, Tom Watson, said the removal of Fox from Sky screens should not affect the government’s decision of the takeover.
“Fox News has breached Ofcom’s rules over and over again, so 21st Century Fox clearly thought it was easier to pull it from the UK altogether than to clean up its act,” he said.
“But the ongoing corporate governance and sexual harassment scandal at Fox News is still deeply relevant to the question of whether 21st Century Fox should be allowed to take over Sky, whether the channel is broadcast here or not.”
Watson is among many critics of the takeover, including former Labour leader Ed Milliband.
“This decision shows the Murdochs panicking about their bid for Sky. It amounts to an admission that despite having broadcast here year after year, Fox News is not fit for UK broadcasting in the standards and ethics of its journalism. It’s yet more proof that the Murdochs can’t be trusted to own 100% of Sky,” said Milliband.
“Stopping broadcasting in the UK changes nothing. Fox News in the US is the Murdochs’ channel, they are responsible for its broadcasting standards and the appalling racial and sexual harassment that happened on their watch. The Murdochs can’t run from their record at Fox News.”