BSkyB offers to cut its ITV voting rights

SATELLITE broadcaster BSkyB has offered to give up some voting rights from its 17.9 per cent stake in ITV after a regulator said the holding restricted competition.

But lawyers were yesterday sceptical that the offer would do enough to appease the Competition Commission which said earlier this month that BSkyB could be forced to sell some or all of its stake.

The commission has said previously that a behavioural remedy, such as reducing voting rights, was unlikely to be appropriate or an effective way of addressing the situation, but it would consider all suggestions.

In a response published on the commission's website, BSkyB said it could place voting rights for 3 per cent of ITV in a voting trust with a respected institutional trustee.

It added: "The remaining shareholding of 14.9 per cent is clearly insufficient to block a special resolution."

Becket McGrath, formerly with the Office of Fair Trading and now a competition lawyer and partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner, said it was too hard to predict at this stage whether the commission would accept that the proposal goes far enough.