Comcast Corporation, a U.S. based broadcasting & cable television firm, has proposed a hostile acquisition bid for the UK headquartered Pay TV broadcaster Sky Plc for £22 billion. In response to the bid, the independent directors of Sky Plc confirmed Comcast’s offer of nearly £12.50 per share, which is 16% more as compared to Murdoch’s offer of £10.75 per share.

The bidding wars between the two broadcasting giants has resulted in nearly 4% rise in Sky’s share prices that are now estimated at £13.59 per share. Experts predict that Twentieth Century Fox, owner of 39% of Sky’s shares and controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, is likely to come up with a new offer to avoid its takeover by Comcast Corp.

For the record, the Walt Disney Company, which is an arch rival of Comcast, has decided to acquire a large proportion of Fox’s assets that also includes Sky Plc in a £47 billion acquisition bid. However, it has been speculated that the effort of Comcast to trespass the two-way deal for Sky is likely to come across political & regulatory hurdles which has delayed the offer made by Fox for Sky Plc. Reliable sources cite that Fox’s bid for Sky has still not been approved fourteen months post the agreement over its price setting with the latter.

Telegraph reports that CMA is likely to offer advice to the Cultural secretary Matt Hancock in the coming week as he is expected to decide as whether to block the deal on media plurality grounds. In response to the pending decision of CMA, Comcast has declared to set up a separate board of directors for Sky News to provide protection against editorial interference, a point of concern raised by business rivals of Murdoch who wanted to control Sky Plc.

Comcast expects the acquisition deal to be finalized by the end of 2018. The firm is planning for cost savings and cross-selling of nearly USD 500 million post the merger.