London/Los Angeles — Sky and 21st Century Fox executives are working with their advisers to nail down the final terms of an £11.2bn deal that would consolidate Rupert Murdoch’s television empire across two continents. Murdoch and his son Lachlan, who are Fox’s co-chairmen, have been intimately involved in discussions to purchase the 61% of UK pay-TV service Sky that Fox does not already own, according to people familiar with the situation. Rupert’s other son, James Murdoch, who leads New York-based Fox as CEO and is chairman of Sky, is also a key Fox negotiator. While the preliminary agreement announced on Friday has the backing of Sky’s independent directors, some elements of the transaction remain under discussion. A key decision for Fox was whether to make an outright offer or to pursue a so-called scheme of arrangement, a structure that would involve UK courts but make it easier to mop up smaller Sky shareholders who refused to sell, said the people, who asked not to be named be...
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