Rupert Murdoch
Sky News announced today that Sky Television has bought Virgin Media for £160m but astonishingly there was no mention of regulator intervention or referral to the competition commission despite Sky being the market leader in Pay-Per-View television services, and Virgin Media being the only competitor in the market.
This gives Sky Television unfettered control over the industry and will inevitably see subscription price rises for Sky Television and Virgin Media subscribers. Over many years Sky Television has abused its market position in the pursuit of ever increasing market share and staggering profits for News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch and the owner of Sky Television. Why this acquisition has not been referred to the competition commission remains a mystery considering this sector only had, until today two companies competing with each other.
In the run up to the recent General Election Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper industry, which includes The Sun came out in support of David Cameron and the Conservatives, and there was much talk at the time that David Cameron had done a deal with Rupert Murdoch to garner his support. It doesn’t take much to work out that in return for The Conservative Party receiving positive media during the election campaign from Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper and television interests (The Sun, The Times, Sky News etc.), and if elected a continuation of stories supporting the government over the course of the Parliament, then the government would turn a blind eye to any further regulation of the media industry and also to wave through any acquisition by Sky Television of Virgin Media.
We now know what that backroom deal between Rupert Murdoch and The Conservative Party means in practice – continued dominance of one of the least regulated industries in the country for the benefit of News Corp and Rupert Murdoch, and increased subscription prices for Sky Television customers. You have to ask yourself who is really running this country?
