This way the economic journal Financial Times assures it. The Government has asked Ofcom to verify if the ITV buy on the part of British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) "increases the worries of the public interest in the number of different owners of the companies of mass media".

The investigation will include all the British mass media of the group News International, included the newspaper sensationalist "The Sun" and the channel Sky News, according to the FT.

The economic journal adds that it is a question of a "sensitive" political decision for the Secretary of the Treasury, Gordon Brown, since, according to the FT, it might face it to the influence of the empire mediático of Murdoch, proprietress of "The Times", in the career to the succession of the British prime minister, Tony Blair.

Brown is seen like the natural successor of Blair, who has already indicated that it will leave this year the power.

The president of the group Virgin, Richard Branson, asked in November Ofcom to investigate this buy, which had a cost for 940 million pounds sterling (approximately 1.390 million euros) and which many saw like an attempt of frustrating an opa on the same broadcasting station of NTL, of which Virgin is a principal shareholder.

Richard Branson qualified the action of "shameless attempt of distorting the competition" and it has received positively the news about the investigation, which should conclude before the end of April.

At the end of the same month, the Office of Competition of the United Kingdom will be published by his examination of the buy of 17,9 per cent of ITV on the part of BSkyB, according to the newspaper.

For his part, the chief of Finance of the platform of the group of Murdoch, Jeremy Darroch, said that it is "very negative for the climate of investments of this business" and complained about that the resolution to investigate the company goes against the governmental guidelines.

Another spokesman of the group said that it was "inconceivable" to think that Sky might influence in the strategy or in the politics of ITV.

Two weeks ago, NTL threw to the market his new mark, Virgin Media, which will compete to Sky and will offer television, Internet and fixed and mobile telephony.

Nevertheless, this platform includes, at the moment, several channels property of BSkyB, like Sky One or Sky News, but the recent increase in the tariffs of the group of Murdoch for his channels has not allowed both platforms to stop coming to an agreement, which deadline is this Wednesday, according to the BBC.

Virgin broke the negotiations with the group of Murdoch last week and accused BSkyB of arrogance and of practising the "bullying" (to intimidate or to harass).

The platform of Rupert Murdoch has warned that his operative benefits might turn affected even in 20 million pounds sterling (approximately 30 million euros) if it does not come to an agreement with Virgin Media, which would have to remove of his bundles the Sky channels.


(Agencies, 27/02/07)