Jeremy Hunt delays News Corp-Sky ruling

Approval for News Corporation's plan to spin off Sky News as a way to gain approval for its takeover of Sky has been delayed after the Department for Culture, Media and Sport received around 40,000 submissions to its consultation.

Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, said yesterday that issues regarding "brand licensing" and "carriage agreements" between the hived-off Sky News and parent company Sky still needed to be worked out.

It was expected that approval for the move would be announced by Hunt at the end of April, but the decision has been delayed.

Speaking to journalists at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London, Hunt said that he "never had a deadline on the process" and would not give one now.

The minister said that he wanted to be sure the solution was "financially robust and sustainable over the long term", and that it "satisfied the crucial issue of media plurality". He will also consult with the Office of Fair Trading on the decision.

Hunt added: "I've asked my officials to really look carefully at all the comments and responses we had to the consultation, of which there were a great many, to make sure that we are all comfortable that the solution we have is financially sustainable."

The delay will be bad news for News Corp, which has seen Sky's share price rise considerably on the back of continued strong financial results, driving up the cost of the proposed takeover.

Meanwhile, Hunt said that his plan to revitalise local television in the UK was "veering towards" a "bottom-up route" rather than a new national TV channel.

He stressed that no decision has yet been made, but suggested that the most likely approach would be auctioning about 30 to 40 individual licences for financially independent services. He added that the scheme is the government's "biggest priority".