A multi-year reform of the UK media mergers regime, combining (i) a new Chapter 3A Foreign State Influence (FSI) regime in the Enterprise Act 2002 that prohibits foreign-state ownership of UK newspapers and news magazines subject to a 15% sovereign-investor exception, (ii) updates to the section 58 media public interest considerations and the statutory definition of 'newspaper', and (iii) live application of these powers to the Telegraph Media Group sale.
These reforms reset who may own UK national press, on what conditions and under what level of ministerial discretion; they also embed Ofcom and the CMA more deeply in plurality assessment, and the Telegraph case is the live stress-test of the new toolkit.
The principal FSI exception regulations (SI 2025) are in force; the No.2 Regulations 2025 were debated in both Houses in December 2025 and made on 18 December 2025; a further DCMS consultation on clarifying the FSI exceptions closed in late 2025. The Telegraph sale process is still live: a PIIN was issued in February 2026 against the DMGT acquisition and a fresh sale to Axel Springer was notified in April 2026.
Government announcement that the FSI regime will be amended to permit sovereign-wealth-fund and other state-owned investors to hold up to 15% of shares/voting rights in UK newspapers and news periodicals, with an associated-persons 0.1% threshold.
DCMS technical consultation seeking views on further changes to the Enterprise Act 2002 (as amended by the principal 2025 FSI regulations) to clarify the scope of the exceptions and make the regime work more effectively.
DCMS consultation on broader updates to the media mergers regime — including expanding the Media Public Interest Test to online news — alongside the FSI changes.
Made 18 December 2025. Amends Part 3 of the Enterprise Act 2002 to refine the Chapter 3A FSI exceptions (sovereign investor 15% threshold; associated persons 0.1%; retail investment products).
Principal exception regulations under Chapter 3A of the Enterprise Act 2002 implementing the 15% sovereign investor threshold.
Amends section 44(10) Enterprise Act 2002 to update the definition of 'newspaper' for the UK merger control regime — operationalising the move to capture online news in scope.
Extends application of the media public interest considerations in section 58(2A)-(2C) Enterprise Act 2002 to broaden the regime beyond legacy print and broadcast.
Pre-emptive action order made on the back of the 12 February 2026 PIIN on the DMGT acquisition, preserving the status quo while the CMA and Ofcom report.
Update on the Telegraph sale setting out the Secretary of State's three principles for any new acquisition: upholding the public interest, exclusion of foreign state funding and protecting the Telegraph's editorial independence.
Announces issuance on 12 February 2026 of a PIIN under section 42 Enterprise Act 2002 in relation to DMGT's anticipated acquisition of Telegraph Media Group Holdings.
Notifies Parliament that RB Investco intends to sell its call option to Axel Springer, restarting the consent process under the January 2024 Order.
PIIN issued by Lisa Nandy against the anticipated acquisition of Telegraph Media Group Holdings by Daily Mail and General Trust plc.
CMA Phase 1 merger inquiry into the anticipated DMGT acquisition of TMGH, running in parallel with the Ofcom public-interest report.
SLSC drew the No.2 FSI Regulations to the special attention of the House, with correspondence with DCMS on the design and operation of the exceptions.
Ofcom's seventh statutory triennial review reiterating 2021 recommendations to broaden the Media Public Interest Test to online news creators and repeal certain Disqualified Persons Restrictions.
Statutory s.390 report listing SIs made under the Communications Act 2003, Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, Office of Communications Act 2002, Broadcasting Acts 1990/1996 and Online Safety Act 2023.
Core consultation on the regime the thread is named after.
Predecessor consultation that fixed the 0% / 5% thresholds the May 2025 announcement then revised to 15%.
Active consultation underpinning the December 2025 No.2 Regulations.
exceptions would allow sovereign wealth funds and other state-owned investors (SOIs) to hold up to 15% of shares or voting rights in UK newspapers and news magazines
Why linked: Defines the central political compromise in the FSI exceptions, replacing the previous government's tighter thresholds.
Upholding the Public Interest… Exclusion of Foreign State Funding… Protecting the Telegraph
Why linked: Sets out the doctrinal test the Secretary of State will apply in any consent decision on the TMG sale.
Direction: to_committee
Direction: to_committee
Direction: to_committee
I am repeating the following Written Ministerial Statement made today in the other place by my Right Honourable Friend, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy MP:This is a joint statement made with the Secretary of …
Direction: to_committee
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with press (a) agencies and (b) publishers on the potential merits of launching the second part of the Leveson inquiry into press standards. Answer: …
Direction: to_committee
Companies such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video provide competition to public service broadcasters. However, there are also opportunities for PSBs to work in partnership with them, and there are good examples where PSB providers have developed effective partnerships with …
We are concerned that the “backstop” power, enabling the Secretary of State to specify new categories of audiovisual content should the Secretary of State consider that they are being underserved, creates the perception that media regulation is no longer independent …
The increased flexibility of the public service remit should be accompanied by a lower threshold for Ofcom to intervene if it considers that a Public Service Broadcaster is failing to meet its remit. The current bar of “serious” is too …
Only those television selection services which are deemed to be used by a significant number of viewers in the UK to access TV content online will be regulated. While the Secretary of State may only designate these services or specify …
DCMS says that its intention is to use the power to make regulations regarding digital radio stations’ localness requirements only in consultation with Ofcom and other stakeholders. We cannot envisage a scenario in which it would be necessary for the …
The Secretary of State’s power to amend the definition of a radio selection service is crucial for the future-proofing of the regulatory scheme, including for in-car systems as well as for new and emerging technologies. While we welcome Ofcom’s horizon-scanning …
The Department told us that it intended to consult Ofcom and other stakeholders before changing the statutory conditions for designating a radio selection service but this does not appear in the Bill. If the Government intends to carry out consultation …
Direction: to_committee
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of whether the Independent Press Standards Organisation has met the recommendations set out in the independent report entitled Leveson Inquiry: Report into the …
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of re-establishing the Leveson Part Two inquiry. Answer: In 2017, the Government ran a consultation on whether to continue …
We recognise that consolidation within the local news industry has ensured the survival of titles that otherwise would have closed. But we are concerned that some of the approaches of the largest publishers appear to be compromising the quality the …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps Department is taking to monitor and ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry. Answer: Since the report of the Leveson Inquiry was published …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the neutrality of the Independent Press Standards Organisation; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing new …
The listed events regime is vital to the UK’s sporting and media landscape, amplifying major events and enabling the country to capitalise on its investment in them and their stars. As people’s consumption of media content changes, this crucial tool …
The news media are vital stakeholders for major events, amplifying them at home and abroad and delivering greater value for money. Moreover, beyond this purely instrumentalist role, there is an intrinsic value to free and reliable reporting of major events. …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Independent Press Standards Organisation in delivering just outcomes. Answer: Since the report of the Leveson Inquiry was …
We note that the CMA has developed a pro-competition framework for tech companies with ‘strategic market status’ that dominate digital markets. The CMA should consider exploring designating YouTube’s streaming services as having strategic market status to encourage competition with its …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of re-establishing the Leveson Part Two inquiry. Answer: The Government has made clear that it does not intend …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the Government plans to implement the recommendations from Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry. Answer: The Government has made clear that it does not intend to proceed …
We are not persuaded by arguments that prominence can be left to the market simply because PSB content is popular and if an organisation such as Freeview, which represents the interests of over 70 TV channels, finds it difficult to …
Where an established media brand is providing programming, it is not right to make the default assumption that YouTube’s contribution to the viewer deciding to watch that programme, and therefore its share of the value chain, is the same as …
The findings of the Competition Commission in 2009 are now outdated, given the rate at which the market has changed and the dominance of global streaming services, and PSBs should be allowed to collaborate so that they have a better …
We recognise the importance of regional diversity in commissioning roles and we welcome Ofcom’s previous decision to strengthen the criteria for regional and national production. We recommend that Ofcom’s guidelines for regional and national production should be reviewed on an …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has plans to review the role of the Independent Press Standards Organisation in the regulation of the news media. Answer: The government is committed to …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has plans to undertake a review of the role of Independent Press Standards Organisation in the regulation of the news media. Answer: The media landscape …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the second part of the Leveson inquiry into regulation of the press will be commenced; and if she will make a statement. Answer: The government announced in …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish the (a) correspondence and (b) minutes of meetings between (a) himself, (b) Ministers of his Department and (c) officials in his Department and Sir …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will postpone the Fox takeover of Sky until the second half of the Leveson Inquiry has been completed. Answer: As set out in previous statements to …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish her response to the Leveson Inquiry and its implementation. Answer: The government is currently considering over 140,000 responses to the consultation on the …
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will postpone any decision on the proposed takeover of Sky by 21st Century Fox until after the publication of any report on the second stage of …
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish her response to her Department's consultation on the Leveson Inquiry and its implementation; and if she will make a statement. Answer: The government is …
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Karen Bradley) has made the following Statement:The consultation ‘The Leveson Inquiry and its implementation’ closed on 10 January after running for ten weeks. We know there is …
The consultation ‘The Leveson Inquiry and its implementation’ closed on 10 January after running for ten weeks. We know there is a significant level of interest in the consultation and we are grateful for all the responses submitted. The total …
Loading new-since list…
Loading External Lens…
The media mergers regime has moved from review to live operation in 18 months. The headline reform is the new Chapter 3A Foreign State Influence (FSI) regime in the Enterprise Act 2002, prohibiting foreign-state ownership of UK newspapers and news magazines but allowing sovereign-owned investors up to 15% of shares or voting rights — a threshold set by Lisa Nandy's WMS HCWS640 on 15 May 2025 1 and operationalised by the principal 2025 Regulations and the No.2 Regulations made on 18 December 2025. Stephanie Peacock confirmed the operational design in HCWS828 on 16 July 2025 2. In parallel, the Telegraph Media Group sale has become the stress-test of the new toolkit: a fresh PIIN was issued on 12 February 2026 against DMGT's anticipated acquisition 3, a Pre-emptive Action Order followed, and on 14 April 2026 the Secretary of State notified Parliament of a new proposed sale to Axel Springer 4. Ofcom's November 2024 s.391 review remains the central independent evidence base 5.
The FSI regime is the dominant substantive change to UK media merger control in two decades. Chapter 3A of the Enterprise Act 2002 took effect from 13 March 2024 as a hard prohibition on foreign-state ownership of UK newspaper enterprises and news periodicals 1. The 2025 Regulations and the December 2025 No.2 Regulations carve out the exceptions: a 15% sovereign-owned investor ceiling, a 0.1% associated-persons threshold and a retail-investment-products carve-out. Both instruments are accompanied by an October 2025 DCMS consultation seeking further clarifications to the SOI exceptions, and by Lords scrutiny — the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee drew the draft No.2 Regulations to the special attention of the House in its 41st Report. Alongside the FSI strand, DCMS has updated the basic merger machinery through the Definition of Newspaper Order 2025 and the s.58 Considerations Order 2025, and Stephanie Peacock's November 2024 WMS HCWS191 2 opened a separate consultation on extending the Media Public Interest Test to online news creators — a step Ofcom has been pressing for since 2021 3. The Telegraph case runs in parallel: a January 2024 Order constrains transfers without the Secretary of State's consent; a fresh PIIN was issued in February 2026 against the DMGT acquisition 4; and an Axel Springer sale is now in train 5.
The last four months have been dominated by the Telegraph file and the No.2 Regulations. On 24 November 2025 Lisa Nandy set out her 'three principles' for any new owner — public interest, exclusion of foreign state funding and protection of the Telegraph's editorial independence — in WMS HCWS1090 1, framing the discretion she would apply under the January 2024 Order. The draft Enterprise Act 2002 (Mergers Involving Newspaper Enterprises and Foreign Powers) (No. 2) Regulations 2025 were debated in the Lords on 2 December 2025 and in a Commons Delegated Legislation Committee on 9 December 2025, and made on 18 December 2025. On 12 February 2026 the Secretary of State issued a fresh PIIN against the DMGT / Telegraph Media Group Holdings acquisition, updated to Parliament on 24 February 2026 in WMS HCWS1353 2. By 9 March 2026 Lisa Nandy had granted RB Investco a derogation from the pre-emptive action order to allow it to sell its call option 3, and on 14 April 2026 she informed Parliament that Axel Springer was the new proposed buyer 4.
Four developments will define the next quarter. First, the CMA Phase 1 and Ofcom public-interest reports following the 12 February 2026 PIIN on the DMGT / TMGH acquisition 1 — the live test of how the section 58 considerations are applied under the new s.58 Considerations Order. Second, the Secretary of State's consent decision on the Axel Springer transaction notified on 14 April 2026 2 — particularly how the FSI 15% sovereign-investor threshold and the associated-persons aggregation rules interact with a major German private acquirer. Third, the substantive Government response to the October 2025 consultation on further FSI exception clarifications, which will determine whether the SOI carve-out is tightened or broadened. Fourth, whether DCMS will bring forward an SI extending the Media Public Interest Test to online news, as proposed in the November 2024 and May 2025 consultations 34 and recommended again by Ofcom in its November 2024 s.391 review 5. The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee's report on the No.2 Regulations should also be expected to generate follow-up correspondence with DCMS. For M&A practitioners, the live exposures are the 15% headline threshold, the 0.1% associated-persons floor, and the breadth of the new 'newspaper' definition under the 2025 Order — all of which now bind transaction design from the outset of any UK press deal.
The principal risk in the regime is the breadth of ministerial discretion under section 42 Enterprise Act 2002, which the corpus shows being used twice within 24 months on the same target (Telegraph) under two different governments and three different transactional structures 12. A second uncertainty is the unfinished online-news strand: Ofcom has been recommending extension of the Media Public Interest Test to online news creators since 2021 3, the November 2024 consultation 4 opened the question, but the corpus shows no implementing SI. Inferred from corpus gap: the substantive Government response to the May 2025 'updating the media mergers regime' consultation beyond the FSI strand is not visible in the readable corpus — analysts should not assume the online-news limb has been resolved. Inferred from corpus gap: the CMA and Ofcom statutory reports on the DMGT / TMGH PIIN are not yet in the corpus; their publication will materially change the regulatory picture.
The reform package sits on three doctrinal layers. The base layer is the Enterprise Act 2002's general merger control regime, in which Part 3 lets the Secretary of State intervene in transactions on 'public interest' grounds defined in section 58 and require parallel reports from the CMA on competition and Ofcom on media plurality and editorial standards. The 2025 Section 58 Considerations Order and the Definition of Newspaper Order operate on this base layer, recalibrating both what counts as a 'newspaper' for merger purposes and which public-interest considerations apply.
The second layer is Chapter 3A of the Enterprise Act 2002 — the Foreign State Influence regime — which took effect from 13 March 2024 and prohibits foreign-state ownership of UK newspapers and news periodicals outright 1. This is a hard prohibition rather than a discretionary test: it operates as a structural bar on transactions where a foreign state would acquire control or influence. The 2025 Regulations and the No.2 Regulations made on 18 December 2025 carve out exceptions to that prohibition — most importantly the 15% sovereign-investor threshold, a 0.1% associated-persons threshold, and a retail-investment-product carve-out [candpk=43962].
The third layer is the bespoke transactional machinery that has grown around the Telegraph sale: the January 2024 Order, successive PIINs and pre-emptive action orders made under section 42 Enterprise Act 2002, and the Secretary of State's 'three principles' statement of November 2025 2. This layer is where ministerial discretion is most concentrated, and it is the layer the Lords' Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has been most active on, drawing the No.2 Regulations to the special attention of the House [candpk=164272].
What the regime does NOT do, on the evidence in the corpus, is broaden the Media Public Interest Test to online news creators despite Ofcom's repeated recommendation that it do so 3. The government's May 2025 consultation flagged this question and the November 2024 WMS opened a separate consultation strand on it, but neither has resulted in a substantive SI in the way the FSI strand has.
Chapter 3A of the Enterprise Act 2002, which prohibits foreign-state ownership or control of UK newspapers and news periodicals.
Carve-out permitting SOIs to hold up to 15% of shares or voting rights in a UK newspaper or news periodical.
Notice issued by the Secretary of State under section 42 Enterprise Act 2002 triggering parallel CMA and Ofcom reports on a media merger.
Statutory grounds in section 58 Enterprise Act 2002 — newspaper plurality, free expression of opinion, accurate presentation of news, sufficient broadcasting plurality and commitment to broadcasting standards — on which the Secretary of State may intervene.
Secretary of State decision on consent under the January 2024 Order to the Axel Springer / TMGH transaction notified on 14 April 2026.
CMA Phase 1 and Ofcom public-interest reports on the DMGT / TMGH PIIN issued 12 February 2026.
DCMS substantive response to the October 2025 consultation on further FSI exception clarifications.
Whether DCMS legislates to extend the Media Public Interest Test to online news creators, as proposed in the November 2024 / May 2025 consultations and reiterated by Ofcom in its 2024 s.391 review.
Has set the substantive direction of the regime: a 15% SOI threshold to balance plurality protection with investment attractiveness, combined with active use of section 42 powers — including the February 2026 PIIN on DMGT/TMGH and the November 2025 'three principles' statement — to police the Telegraph sale.May 2025Nov 2025Feb 2026
Carried the operational announcements: confirmed in July 2025 that the principal FSI Regulations would permit SOIs up to 15%, and in November 2024 opened the consultation strand to extend the Media Public Interest Test to online news.Jul 2025Nov 2024
Has consistently recommended that the Media Public Interest Test be broadened beyond print and broadcast to online news creators and that certain Disqualified Persons Restrictions be repealed; reiterated this in its November 2024 s.391 review and produced statutory reports on each PIIN.Nov 2024
Acts as the competition-side statutory reporter under each PIIN; produced the 2024 report on the RedBird IMI / TMG acquisition and is running the 2026 Phase 1 inquiry into the DMGT / TMGH transaction.Mar 2024
As Conservative Secretary of State drove the original 2024 FSI legislation and issued the first PIIN and pre-emptive action order against the RedBird IMI / TMG acquisition, on the basis of accurate-presentation-of-news and free-expression considerations.Jan 2024Mar 2024Jan 2024