Poll: 'Only 1 in 20 back Sky takeover'

Only one in 20 people in Britain support the controversial takeover of Sky by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, a new opinion poll has revealed.

According to a survey conducted by ICM Research, almost half (44%) of the 2,000-strong sample opposed News Corp's bid to acquire the 61% of Sky that it does not already own, while only 5% supported the deal, reports The Guardian.

Last week, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt was handed the power to arbitrate on the takeover after business secretary Vince Cable had been stripped of the decision for telling undercover reporters that he had "declared war" on Murdoch's media empire.

The ICM poll - commissioned jointly by the Guardian Media Group, BT, Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Trinity Mirror and the Telegraph Media Group - found widespread opposition to the Sky takeover across all political allegiances.

Some 43% of Conservative voters were against the takeover, while 53% of Liberal Democrat supporters opposed the deal, including 25% who were "strongly opposed".

The majority of those polled (63%) agreed that the deal should be investigated fully before it was allowed to proceed. Just one in 10 respondents felt that a referral was not necessary.

Asked whether it was important to prevent a single company from controlling excessive parts of the news media, 84% said that it was and just 4% felt that it wasn't.

Media regulator Ofcom will deliver its investigation report into the takeover by Friday, and Hunt is expected to make his final decision after parliament returns on January 10.

Last week, the National Union of Journalists said that Hunt is unsuitable to arbitrate on the Sky takeover and called for a full Competition Commission probe to be launched.