Rupert Murdoch’s London offices of 21st Century Fox’s Fox Networks Group were raided by European Commission investigators on Tuesday, The U.K.’s Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.
Authorities were told to keep details of their probe confidential and investigators are expected to be on site through Wednesday and possibly Thursday, according to the Telegraph and other news outlets.
Fox News and 21st Century Fox did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. But a spokesman for 21st Century Fox said in a statement Tuesday that Fox Networks Group is “cooperating fully” with the inspection.
According to the Daily Telegraph and other outlets, among the objects seized were documents and computer records.
The probe comes as 21st Century Fox attempts a takeover of Sky, which has come under scrutiny by British regulators.
Earlier this year, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority said it had concerns over the deal, which the agency said could put too much influence in the hands of the Murdoch family.
Shares of Fox fell more than 1 percent in extended trading, according to CNBC.
13 TV Shows With the Worst Audience Declines From Last Year (Photos)
We've already learned that just six entertainment (so, no sports or news programming) TV shows across the Big 4 broadcast channels were able to grow their audiences from Fall 2016 to this season -- but which ones are actually falling the hardest? TheWrap's got that answer for you today, and we've ranked them in order from bad-to-awful.
Unfortunately for Fox, the newest of the networks (again, we're leaving The CW alone here) owns each of the three worst year over year total-viewer drop-offs. All numbers in this story comes from Nielsen's "most current" metric, which includes a week's worth of delayed viewing where available.
Rank: 13 Show: "NCIS: Los Angeles" Net: CBS Total-Viewer Average: 10.216 million Year-Over-Year Decline: -20%
"NCIS: LA" moved from Sundays at 8 after "60 Minutes" to Sundays at 9 after the recently scraped "Wisdom of the Crowd." You do the math -- or rather, don't bother, as we just did for you.
Rank: 11 (tie) Show: "The Blacklist" Net: NBC Total-Viewer Average: 8.322 million Year-Over-Year Decline: -21%
"The Blacklist" moved from Thursdays at 10 to Wednesdays at 8. It's now up against Fox's "Empire" and in the dead spot previously occupied by "Blindspot."
Rank: 10 Show: "Madam Secretary" Net: CBS Total-Viewer Average: 8.564 million Year-Over-Year Decline: -22%
"Madam Secretary" was sent to Sundays at 10 this season -- though with NFL football overruns, it rarely even finishes within the confines of East Coast primetime.
Rank: 9 Show: "Scorpion" Net: CBS Total-Viewer Average: 7.599 million Year-Over-Year Decline: -25%
"Scorpion" is mostly getting beaten-up by ABC's freshman drama"The Good Doctor." Bring back the good-old days when this batch of geniuses battled "Conviction." Plus, no one wants "Me, Myself & I" as a lead-in -- or in CBS' case, really, at all.
Rank: 1 (tie) Show: "Lethal Weapon" Net: Fox Total-Viewer Average: 5.902 million Year-Over-Year Decline: -37%
As a freshman, "Lethal Weapon" benefitted in its final 15 minutes as viewers flocked to Fox early for "Empire." Now the action-drama is on its own for Season 2, and Murtaugh and Riggs are maybe already getting too old for this s---.
Fox actually claims all three of the biggest drops from Fall 2016
We've already learned that just six entertainment (so, no sports or news programming) TV shows across the Big 4 broadcast channels were able to grow their audiences from Fall 2016 to this season -- but which ones are actually falling the hardest? TheWrap's got that answer for you today, and we've ranked them in order from bad-to-awful.
Unfortunately for Fox, the newest of the networks (again, we're leaving The CW alone here) owns each of the three worst year over year total-viewer drop-offs. All numbers in this story comes from Nielsen's "most current" metric, which includes a week's worth of delayed viewing where available.
TheWrap
CBS
