Fox and Comcast are heading for a three-round auction on Saturday to settle a takeover of British broadcaster Sky, the U.K.'s Takeover Panel said Thursday.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for details.
The news follows a report by Bloomberg that the takeover battle for Sky would likely be transferred to an auction.
In such auctions, bidders submit secret offers to a third-party arbiter. And while this method is relatively common for commercial transactions, it is extremely unusual when it comes to deal-making for such a high-profile public company.
The U.K. broadcaster is currently valued at £27 billion, which translates to more than $35 billion.
In what has been a drawn-out bidding war between some of America's biggest media companies, Britain's Sky has found itself at the center.
The company is seen as a coveted asset in the entertainment industry due to being a major player in the U.K.'s pay-TV scene, as well as the digital media sphere.
A takeover deal would also come on the heels of Sky's foray into the gaming market, with the telecommunications firm set to develop games based on its TV shows following a deal with Skybound Entertainment, the firm behind "The Walking Dead."
It has been a tense battle among the U.S. giants, with bids being thrown left right and center with the aim of expanding reach both within the industry and into an overseas market.
Prior to the news, offers for Sky stood at $34 billion from Comcast and $32.5 billion from Twenty-First Century Fox.
Fox already has a 39 percent stake in Sky. The company had originally reached a deal in December 2016 to buy the part of Sky it does not already own.
The bidding war was complicated in July after Comcast dropped out of a bid to buy assets of Fox, conceding defeat in a separate bidding war with Disney.
Fox, controlled by the influential Murdoch family, had been under the lense of U.K. regulators and politicians over concerns a takeover could extend too much influence to the Murdochs.
CNBC's Sam Meredith contributed to this report.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, parent company of CNBC and CNBC.com.
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