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On 12 September 2017, and after deliberation, the Secretary of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) decided to refer the proposed acquisition of Sky plc by Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The Secretary of State was minded to refer matters to the CMA, particularly as an earlier Ofcom report had raised concerns that the proposed merger would give rise to issues around media plurality across different platforms (see IRIS 2017-8/4). Furthermore, Ofcom’s report on the proposed acquisition addressed concerns about Fox News’...

On 29 June 2017, Ofcom’s findings on the proposed acquisition of Sky plc by Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. were published. The Secretary of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has yet to make a final decision on whether to approve the merger, which would include accepting undertakings from Sky and Fox or, alternatively, to request that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) instigate a Phase 2 investigation as to whether the merger is in the public’s interest. Fox already owns 39% of Sky and last year it offered to buy the balance of Sky’s shares. Sky is a European...

On 7 August 2017, Ofcom determined that Sky News was in breach of Rule 6.10 of the Broadcast Code by failing to list all candidates during a constituency report held during this year’s UK General Election. On 12 May 2017, during Sky’s morning show called Sunrise, the presenter had a three way discussion concerning tactical voting with the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat candidates for the constituency of Vauxhall in London. The discussion concerned the participating candidates agreeing not to stand against each other in an attempt to encourage tactical voting. Three other candidates were...

The UK communications regulator, Ofcom, has recently had to take a number of decisions on broadcasters, including decisions on material advocating terrorism. One such example relates to Ariana International, a general entertainment channel originating from Afghanistan and broadcast by satellite in the United Kingdom. Its licence is held by Ariana Television and Radio Network. The broadcast featured a video by a 17-year-old individual, Muhammed Riyad, before he stabbed five people on a train in Germany and was subsequently killed by security forces. In the video, he brandished a knife, boasted about...

At the present time, there are no direct rules preventing gender stereotyping in advertising. The nearest thing is if under the Committee of Advertising Practice Code (CAP Code) the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is of the opinion that an advertisement is likely to cause "serious or widespread offence". Thus, the ASA has banned advertisements that objectify or inappropriately sexualise women and girls or suggest it is acceptable for young women to be unhealthily thin. However, the ASA has generally taken the view that depictions of stereotypical gender roles or ads that mock people for not...