CMA says it needs to digest more than 12,000 submissions before issuing guidance on proposed Murdoch takeover of UK broadcaster

The UK competition watchdog has delayed by a month its provisional decision on 21st Century Fox’s £11.7bn proposed deal to take full control of Sky in order to allow sufficient time to consider the thousands of submissions it has received.

The Competition and Markets Authority expects to publish its initial verdict in mid-January rather than18 December.

A spokesperson for the CMA said: “It is not unusual for us to update our timetables. In this case, we have received a large body of evidence – including numerous face-to-face hearings and more than 12,000 submissions – so it is vital that we spend the time to reach an informed and considered provisional view.”

The culture secretary, Karen Bradley, referred Fox’s planned takeover of Sky to the CMA in September to assess the Murdochs’ commitment to broadcasting standards, and media plurality.

This means the CMA will take into account not only the Murdochs’ media power in thew UK, but their track record as broadcasters and publishers and their commitment to high editorial standards in both the UK and the US.

Fox is controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James. If the Fox bid for the 61% of Sky shares it does not already own is successful, the satellite broadcaster will join the Sun, the Times and talkRadio in the Murdochs’ broader UK media empire, giving the family a bigger reach than any news provider apart from the BBC.

The Murdochs are reportedly in negotiations to sell Fox’s Sky stake, along with other assets including its US film and TV production business, to rival Disney. It is unclear what impact this change of ownership might have on UK regulatory scrutiny of the Sky deal.

According to the CMA’s timetable, it will send its final recommendations to Bradley by 6 March.

Sky said last month it would review the future of Sky News if the deal is blocked on the grounds of media plurality. It was responding to the regulator’s assumption that if the deal is blocked, Sky News would continue to compete against rival TV news providers including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.