Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2010/07/20/easynet_sky/

Sky announcement on Easynet sell-off expected by Thursday

We'll talk about this speculation later

By Christopher Williams

Posted in Networks, 20th July 2010 09:10 GMT

Sky is expected to finalise a deal for a management buyout of its networking business Easynet by the end of this week.

The firms declined to comment for our story yesterday regarding ongoing negotiations between Easynet's CEO David Rowe and CTO Justin Fielder, and Sky.

However, following publication Easynet wrote to all staff about our story, which was sourced from insiders who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals. The missive explains that management will make an announcement about the "speculation" by Thursday 22 July.

You may have seen speculation in the media about the potential sale of Easynet.

The official position from Sky is that we are still a part of the BSkyB family. We are unable to respond at present however we anticipate we will be able to provide you with a fuller response by Thursday 22nd July 2010 at the latest. In the meantime please don't let this speculation worry you – it's business as usual.

If you are asked a direct question regarding this matter by a customer or a supplier then please relay this message to them verbally, and inform them we will proactively communicate further details as soon as we are able to.

It's a surreal position to adopt: The Register's story was "speculation", yet we can't respond to it, but don't worry, we'll be making some sort of announcement about it by Thursday.

Sky bought Easynet in 2005 for £211m, ahead of its push into home broadband. It's understood that under the proposed buyout the Murdoch empire will retain control of the Easynet network. ®