The Financial Times is calling on UK Business Secretary Vince Cable to open an investigation of the possible takeover of satellite broadcaster BSkyB by News Corporation, saying it is "unlikely to encounter insuperable obstacles as the deal may well not fall foul of European competition law."

News Corp already owns a 39.1 percent minority stake in BSkyB, the Pearson Group-owned FT points out, and adds that Cable should investigate to "ensure the existence of a range of media voices," as together, News Corp and BSkyB "would be a truly formidable beast," with 37 percent of UK national newspaper circulation coming from a News Corp-owned publication, while Sky has 35 percent of the TV market, based on revenue.

"But access to Sky's substantial cash flows (rather than a taxed dividend, as at present) would give Mr Murdoch substantial firepower to cross-subsidise his loss-making UK newspapers, enabling them to compete with rivals more on price. Price wars are an established stratagem for News. In the 1990s, it grew the circulation of the Times through savage price cuts," the article states. "The UK newspaper industry as a whole is struggling, as it is in many parts of the world. Were Mr Murdoch to embark on fresh price wars, more rival papers would be marginalised - or even forced from the news stands."

Recently, Murdoch has been waging what many are dubbing a "newspaper war" in the United States, pitting his Wall Street Journal against The New York Times in a battle for ad dollars and circulation.

The FT is not the only one concerned about the possible takeover.

Last week, Claire Enders, founder of media consultancy firm Enders Analysis, sent a 20-page letter to Cable, as well as to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Broadcasting Minister Ed Vaizey, that detailed concerns about the buyout as well, MediaGuardian reported.

The possible takeover would be a "Berlusconi moment" for the United Kingdom, as it would mean "a reduction in media plurality to an unacceptably low level," she wrote.