Published: November 19th 2010 - at 8:20 am

60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB


by Sunny Hundal    

Over 60,000 people have written submissions to Ofcom, calling on the regulator to hold a full investigation into Newscorp’s planned buyout of BSkyB.

Campaigners will deliver dozens of boxes of signatures to Ofcom’s London offices today morning.

It is the final day of a public consultation on whether the Murdoch buy-out would harm media plurality and democracy.

The campaign was run by web-based lobby organisations 38 Degrees and Avaaz.org

David Babbs of 38 Degrees said

More control for Murdoch is bad news for Britain. 38 Degrees members want Ofcom to get the Competition Commission involved. We need a wide-ranging inquiry into Murdoch’s power and how this takeover could affect our democracy.

Ricken Patel of Avaaz, said

Britain loses if Rupert Murdoch wins this takeover battle. Giving one man control of half the British media would be a disaster. Citizens want Ofcom to do its duty and stand up for a healthy, diverse media.

Both ran petitions on their website encouraging people to make their voices heard.

From a press release


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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


Meh. He already controls it. Whether he owns it outright or merely controls it makes very little difference to anything.

Tim,

I think the campaign know that – but I think they see this as an opportunity to have that control reviewed.

To be honest, not a bad idea, although quite what would replace Mr Murdoch would be a sensible question. Note that Mr Murdoch is good at market placement, so I can’t see any of his platforms changing their political stance because he didn’t own them…

I don’t see what all the fuss is about. If it hadn’t been for Murdoch, TV in the UK would still be in the dark ages (eg, we would still all be watching three channels). as many commentators have said, he already controls BSkyB, so this campaign is about 20 years too late.

@3 Nonsense. Channel Four was launched (on analogue) before Murdoch bought out SATV. The argument later on for launching Channel Five would probably have been stronger rather than weaker if it had faced no competition at all beyond the four. And it is preposterous anyway to suppose that if Murdoch hadn’t made satellite TV popular, no one else would have succeeded in popularising new channels on satellite, cable, or (later) digital terrestrial.

5. Peter Lockhart

@ 3, Neville, why do you say he took TV out the dark ages. Why is having more channles that could possibly ever be watched such a good thing.


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. Liberal Conspiracy

    Record 60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB http://bit.ly/bVTYi7

  2. Lee Hyde

    RT @libcon: Record 60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB http://bit.ly/bVTYi7

  3. safefromwolves

    RT @libcon Record 60,000 sign petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB http://bit.ly/bVTYi7 @democracyfail #boycottmurdoch

  4. Pucci Dellanno

    RT @libcon: Record 60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB http://bit.ly/bVTYi7

  5. Plymouth City UNISON

    RT @libcon: Record 60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB http://bit.ly/bVTYi7

  6. Elliot Page

    RT @libcon: Record 60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB http://bit.ly/bVTYi7

  7. P. S. Wong

    RT @libcon: Record 60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB http://bit.ly/bVTYi7

  8. Andrew Griffiths

    RT @libcon: Record 60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB http://bit.ly/bVTYi7

  9. billshankly

    RT @libcon: Record 60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB http://bit.ly/bVTYi7

  10. Wikio UK

    (Liberal Conspiracy) Record 60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB : http://wik.io/hsPdB

  11. Angela Pateman

    Record 60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/93KKyE7 via @libcon << Excellent

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    [...] Driving Lesson 7 Emergency Stop [...]

  13. Keith Turner

    RT @libcon: Record 60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB http://bit.ly/bVTYi7

  14. Look Left – Cameron adviser resigns after "disgraceful" remarks | Left Foot Forward

    [...] of people, 60,000 in all, whose messages of protest over Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of BSkyB were delivered to Ofcom this morning. Murdoch’s bid, if successful, will give him total control of the [...]

  15. Rachel Hubbard

    60k petition to stop Murdoch buying BSkyB | Liberal Conspiracy: http://bit.ly/deoUYD via @addthis





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