21st Century Fox denied a government witness' "allegation that its sports division paid bribes" to win TV rights for int'l football tournaments, according to Patricia Hurtado of BLOOMBERG. Fox said in a statement that it "had no operational control of the business" that a former sports marketing exec was referring to in his testimony in a U.S. corruption trial. The statement said, "Any suggestion that Fox Sports knew of or approved of any bribes is emphatically false." The former marketing exec, Alejandro Burzaco, "implicated some of the world's biggest broadcasters," including Brazil's Globo and Mexico's Televisa, in corruption in football TV rights during a trial of three former FIFA execs. The allegations "come at a sensitive time for Fox." The media company "is trying to persuade U.K. regulators to allow the acquisition of full control" of Sky. The U.K.'s Competition & Markets Authority "is looking into issues of corporate culture at Fox, including sexual harassment allegations at Fox News," as part of its review of a $15.4B bid for the rest of Sky. Globo's press office in Brazil "denied the allegations and any wrongdoing." The company said that it does not "make or tolerate any bribe payments." It added that it "conducted internal investigations" and concluded that no payments that had not been specified in contracts were made. Televisa said in a statement that it "in no way knew of, or condoned, any bribe or other improper conduct" (BLOOMBERG, 11/15).
