Media regulator Ofcom has ruled out reviewing the BBC’s acquisition of UKTV’s entertainment channels.
Last month the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Studios, confirmed it had reached an agreement with fellow UKTV shareholder Discovery on a splitting up of the company.
Under the deal, Discovery will take full ownership of UKTV’s lifestyle channels while BBC Studios will gain full ownership of UKTV’s entertainment channels, including Gold, Dave and W.
Ofcom today said it was content for the deal to proceed without a formal competition assessment being conducted, saying it was “confident” existing rules are sufficient to ensure there’s no “market distortion or unfair competitive advantage,” such as the BBC selling licence fee funded shows to UKTV for less than their market rate, as a result of the deal.
