BSkyB’s acquisition of a 17.9 percent stake in ITV could be heading the way of the U.K. Competition Commission after both Ofcom, the U.K. communications regulator, and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) expressed public interest concerns about the deal.

The OFT issued a statement raising concerns: “Firstly, a relevant merger situation has been created. Secondly, this situation has resulted, or may be expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition within a market or markets in the U.K. Thirdly, clear-cut remedies sufficient to resolve the OFT’s competition concerns were not offered.” Ofcom added a statement of its public-interest concerns “about the number of different owners of media enterprises” as a result of this deal.

BSkyB announced in November that it had paid 940 million British pounds ($1.88 billion) for a 17.9 percent stake in ITV, one of the U.K.’s largest broadcasters. Virgin Media (formerly ntl) had long held an interest in ITV and BSkyB’s acquisition of its stake effectively ended Virgin Media’s ambitions to seize control of ITV.

The U.K. government will consider these recommendations and will make a decision by late May in terms of whether to refer the case to the Competition Commission. Sarah Simon, a media equity analyst at Morgan Stanley said in an April 30 research note that “the Secretary of State now has until May 26 to decide on whether or not to refer BSkyB’s acquisition of a 17.9 percent stake in ITV to the Competition Commission. A CC investigation could take up to six months, and remedies thereafter could take up to a year. With this timeframe in mind, we believe a potential resumption of a Virgin Media bid would have far less negative implications for Sky than if a bid were made today. We also note the likely increase in the cost of such a bid.”

Simon said the OFT and Ofcom decisions had come as “no surprise” and that political pressure could result in the deal going to the Competition Commission. She added, “There is a backdrop of significant political pressure not to appear to be pandering to the Murdoch empire, which has been supportive of the current Labour government. Given this pressure, it may be difficult for the Secretary of State not to bow to the recommendation to refer the transaction.”