Ashurst helps Virgin to BSkyB court case victory

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruled in Virgin's favour, agreeing with the decision made by the Competition Commission and business secretary John Hutton that it must reduce its holding in the UK broadcaster to less than 7.5%.

The team from Ashurst was led by London's head of EU and competition, Nigel Parr, partner Duncan Liddell and associate Ross McKenzie.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised ITV with competition partner Simon Priddis at the helm.

Allen & Overy represented Sky with competition consultant John Wotton and partner Antonio Bavasso leading the team.

It is understood that Sky are considering launching another appeal, which would mean that they would not have to pay back anything until a final decision was made.

Nigel Parr told Legal Week: "It has been a long saga but the CAT has reached the right decision - in line with the original Ofcom report to the Secretary of State."

It is also thought that the CAT could ask Sky to further reduce its stake in ITV and could demand that Sky sell its entire holding.

The tribunal also came to the decision that Sky's original purchase of a 17.9% stake in ITV had an impact on media plurality - something which the Competition Commission and Hutton rejected in their earlier decision.

A statement from Virgin said: "ITV's independence has been compromised for nearly two years as a result of Sky's actions. We are pleased that the Competition Appeal Tribunal has rejected Sky's appeal and we now expect Sky to divest its ITV stake as previously ordered by the Competition Commission."

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