Television in the United Kingdom 4 Corp, according to BARB's viewing figures for January 2018. On 18 January 2011, then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt announced his intentions to set up a network of local television stations across the UK. The initial plan was to create a network of local television stations, connected through a national backbone. This plan would create a television network similar to that of the network-affiliate model in the United States and Canada. In June 2011, however, it was announced that the national spine plan would be scrapped, and a 'bottom-up' approach would be followed instead,
News Corporation and pop singer Justin Timberlake bought the site for $35 million, which CNN reported noted was "far less than the $580 million News Corp. paid for Myspace in 2005." Murdoch went on to call the Myspace purchase a "huge mistake". On 13 July 2011, Rupert Murdoch announced that the company would withdraw its takeover bid for BSkyB due to concerns relating to the "News of the World" scandal. News Corporation already owned, and continues to own, 39.1% of BSkyB. On 6 June 2012, News Corporation announced that it would buy out ESPN Inc.'s stake in ESPN Star Sports to gain