BSkyB is a “fit and proper” broadcaster
BSkyB is “fit and proper” to hold a broadcasting licence, watchdog Ofcom said today.
The watchdog launched an investigation last year after allegations of phone hacking at BskyB’s biggest shareholder News Corp.
The investigation by Ofcom, which has clashed repeatedly with BSkyB in the past, had hung over the hugely successful group and raised the prospect of News Corp being forced to sell down some of its near 40 percent holding.
“Ofcom considers that, on the evidence currently available and having taken into account all the relevant factors, Sky is fit and proper to hold its broadcast licences,” Ofcom said in a statement this morning.
News Corp had been trying to buy the rest of BSkyB it did not already own when the revelations broker and the scandal sparked regulators to examine whether Murdoch’s group was an appropriate owner of BSkyB.
“To date, there is no evidence that Sky was directly or indirectly involved in any of the wrongdoing either admitted or alleged to have taken place at News of the World or The Sun,” Ofcom added.