Sky granted extension for ITV appeal

The Competition Commission has granted Sky an extension to the time in which it may file an appeal against a recommendation that it be forced to sell some of its shares in ITV.

Last month, the commission recommended to business secretary John Hutton that Sky be forced to sell down its 17.9% stake in ITV to under 7.5% because it "thought it likely that BSkyB would exercise its ability to influence ITV's strategy so as substantially to lessen competition".

Sky originally had until this Wednesday, January 16, to submit an appeal. The commission will now allow Sky to wait until Hutton has issued his ruling, which is expected to occur before the end of this month.

A sale by Sky of ITV stock would cost the company dearly. When it acquired the stake in November 2006, it bought 696m ITV shares at 135p each, bringing the cost to £939.6m. Since then, however, ITV shares have fallen in value and at the time of publication, the broadcaster's shares were trading at 69.2p each, making a potential sell-down a costly exercise.