The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has referred Fox’s 21st Century Fox’s bid for Sky back to Ofcom.
Fox wants to buy the 61 per cent of Sky it does not already own in an £11.7 billion deal.
The DCMS said it had received submissions that raise “new evidence and/or comment” about Ofcom’s assessment of the takeover and was “seeking further clarification” from the regulator.
Ofcom has been asked to respond by 25th August, which means the Government is unlikely to announce a final decision on whether to refer the deal to the Competition and Markets Authority before parliament return from summer recess in September.
In a statement, the DCMS said: “After assessing the large number of representations made in relation to the secretary of state’s referral decision, a number of these raise new evidence and/or comment on the Ofcom assessment.
“Any referral decision by the secretary of state must be taken on the basis of a valid assessment of all the relevant evidence. For this reason the DCMS has asked Ofcom to advise on a number of points arising from these representations.”
