Comcast emerged as the winner of an extraordinary battle for control of Sky after it defeated the combined forces of 21st Century Fox and Disney in an extraordinary 24-hour auction.

The colossus of the US cable industry, which also owns the Hollywood studio universal and the broadcaster NBC, made a blind bid £17.28 per share for Sky, valuing the company at nearly £30bn.

Comcast came out comfortably ahead of Fox, which was effectively controlled in the 24-hour sale by Disney. The Star Wars maker has agreed to buy most of Fox, including its 39pc stake in Sky, in a separate $71bn (£54bn) deal.

At the 5pm deadline Sky’s biggest shareholder made a final offer of £15.67 per share, less than the market value going into the auction. The highly unusual process to settle the takeover battle was overseen by the Takeover Panel, the City’s merger regulator.

The Fox bid fell about £2.8bn short of Comcast's, which represents 15.5 times Sky's adjusted earnings.

Sky’s independent directors, led by deputy chairman Martin Gilbert, the joint-chief executive of investment giant Standard Life Aberdeen, quickly recommended Comcast's offer to shareholders. Sky chief executive Jeremy Darroch was also fielding bids from Comcast and Fox alongside a phalanx of bankers and lawyers.