Comcast sprung the offer on Sky Tuesday morning, its timing suggesting it sees an opening to win over UK officials and investors. Fox has been struggling to secure regulatory approval for its bid and some Sky holders have been agitating for a better offer after Disney's $52.4 billion agreement in December to buy most of Fox's film and TV assets, including its stake in Sky. Fox would hand full control of Sky to Disney if its takeover is successful. Fox will be furious after Comcast's bid, said Crispin Odey, Murdoch's former son-in-law and founder of hedge fund manager Odey Asset Management, which owns a 0.8 perc ent stake in Sky according to Bloomberg. "This is tanks on their lawn," said Odey, who has been pushing for a higher offer for Sky. Sky shares rose as much as 20 percent to 1,323.50 pence, higher than both bids and the most since Fox's offer in December 2016.

It's obviously a huge gauntlet that's been laid down to the Murdochs. Alice Enders, head of research at Enders Analysis Given the strategic importance of Sky to Fox and Disney, a counteroffer well above Comcast's is now very likely, said Jerry Dellis, an analyst at Jefferies in London. Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger called Sky a "crown jewel" among Fox assets in a December interview with Bloomberg TV. Asked about the Comcast bid on a visit to Paris on Tuesday, Mr Iger declined to comment. "It's obviously a huge gauntlet that's been laid down to the Murdochs in relation to their pre-existing offer," said Alice Enders, head of research at Enders Analysis.

Sky's success at the Premier League soccer rights auction this month made it more desirable, she said. "Sky is a very attractive business." Sky's Premier League rights underlines its value. Credit:PA Sky declined to comment while representatives for Fox and Disney didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Comcast Chairman and chief executive Brian Roberts said he's prepared for the Murdochs to spurn Comcast's advance. The proposal is structured so that Comcast will be successful as long as it brings more than 50 percent of Sky shareholders to its side.

"We'd prefer 100 percent but it's not a condition," Roberts said on a conference call. Comcast would settle with owning Sky alongside Fox or Disney as minority shareholders, he said. "We respect that maybe they don't want to sell, but that will be something discussed further down the line." Driven by its interest in controlling Sky, Comcast had offered $60 billion for much of Fox in Loading December before Fox chose Disney's lower offer, a person familiar with the matter said at the time. Comcast was considering making another bid for Fox assets this month, according to a person familiar.

Fox preferred to sell assets to Disney in part because it believed that deal would present fewer regulatory hurdles, people familiar with the matter have said. Comcast is the biggest U.S. cable-TV operator and also owns one of the largest film and television groups, NBCUniversal. It's Sky's technology that first lured Comcast. On a trip to the UK in November with Dave Watson, head of Comcast Cable, Mr Roberts suggested jumping in a taxi and going to a mall to get an in-store demo of Sky's products. They spent at least an hour at a Sky store going through every feature and comparing it to Comcast's own X1 platform, which lets subscribers search for movies and TV shows through a Netflix-like user interface and a voice-activated remote control, Roberts said on the call. "We were really terribly impressed," Mr Roberts said. "Seeing it again and listening to the passion of the sales, and looking at the product, and seeing the success in their earnings -- all those things combined to reinforce what a number of us have known for years, this is a jewel." The latest round of major deals indicates the pressures being felt by traditional cable television networks which have been losing customers to streaming services like Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc..

Share surge "The initial share price reaction suggests that this story has further to run, with Sky's price leaping above the level of the already increased Comcast offer," said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor. The proposed offer pits Comcast's Roberts against Murdoch, the 86-year-old tycoon who helped to launch Sky in Britain, and who has been edging towards finally getting his hands on Sky after he first bid for the company eight years ago. It also pits Roberts against Disney's Iger, a long time rival after Comcast tried to buy Disney for $54 billion in 2004. Comcast said it had not yet engaged with Sky over the proposal and nearly 90 minutes after the statement came out, Sky was yet to respond.

Rupert Murdoch with his son James who is Chairman of Sky Credit:Eddie Keogh Sky's chairman is Murdoch's son James, who is the chief executive of 21st Century Fox, so Comcast will have to gain the support of the independent shareholders for its better offer if it does not make a hostile bid. Britain's competition regulator said in January that Murdoch's planned takeover should be blocked unless a way was found to prevent him from influencing the network's news operation, Sky News. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that the deal would give Murdoch too much influence and so would not be in the public interest. Murdoch's news outlets are watched, read or heard by nearly a third of Britons and have a combined share of public news consumption that is significantly greater than all other news providers, except the BBC and commercial TV news provider ITN.