The final battle for Sky is underway

A protracted takeover battle involving three of the world's most powerful media companies ends in the most spectacular way possible: an auction.

Comcast is fighting against 21st Century Fox (FOX) and his powerful support, Disney (DIS), Saturday in an auction that aims to end nearly two years of feuds over the control of the European television channel Sky.

The UK Takeover Panel will oversee the rare auction, which includes up to three rounds of bidding and aims to produce two final bids for Sky and its 23 million subscribers by Saturday night. in London.

The stakes are high: Sky (SKYAY) is the largest pay-TV broadcaster in Europe and a coveted award for US media companies that want to expand abroad and strengthen their defenses against an onslaught of Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon (AMZN).

Comcast, which currently holds the auction at £ 14.75 ($ 19.00) per share, or about $ 34 billion in total. His opponent, Fox, has offered £ 14.30 ($ 18.30) per share and has the support of Disney, who is acquiring most of Rupert Murdoch's entertainment assets.

Because neither of the two parties has put forth final bids, British regulators are using an auction to end the battle.

Tenders will be submitted to the Acquisition Commission, whose offices are located near St. Paul's Cathedral in London, by e-mail. Offers must be in cash only. The terms of the auction were previously negotiated and accepted by Fox, Comcast and Sky.

First round: Fox, the lowest bidder, will send his offer by email to the regulator.

Second round: Comcast is then allowed to counter an offer of its own.

Third round: if still unresolved, both parties may then submit "sealed" final offers.

The POA Panel will then publicly announce the two final offers. He could do it on Saturday night in the UK.

Most analysts expect bids to be around £ 16 ($ 20.90) per share, close to the current share price of £ 15.85 ($ 20.73). But some believe that the auction could reach £ 18 ($ 23.54) per share.

Fox and Comcast are due to announce their revised offers by Monday and publish an official bid document by Thursday.

It is then up to Sky's board to make a recommendation on the offer that shareholders should accept. They must decide by October 11th.

Fox is trying to take back the 61% of Sky that he has not owned for years. In 2011, Fox abandoned an effort to take over the entire company following a hacking scandal on News of the World, Murdoch's missing tabloid.

In December 2016, Murdoch tried again, offering £ 10.75 ($ 14.05) per share. British media regulators made an offer through the spokesman and Fox questioned whether it was an "appropriate" owner and whether the agreement would give Murdoch too much power over the British media.

Regulators have finally agreed that the sale could continue as long as Sky News is dissociated in order to protect its editorial integrity.

In February 2018, Comcast announced that it was bidding at £ 12.50 ($ 16.35) per share, making the bid official in April. Fox surpassed this figure with an offer of £ 14.00 (18.30) per share in July and Comcast responded the same day with its offer of £ 14.75 ($ 19.00).

Although the highest final offer is likely to be revealed on Saturday, the new owner will not be confirmed until the shareholders of Sky decide on the offer to accept.

That would close a hectic chapter for the media industry that saw Comcast lose to Disney for most of Fox's business in a contest that seemed to be personal to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Disney's CEO Bob Iger .

– Anna Stewart contributed to the report.

CNNMoney (London) First published on September 21, 2018: 7:01 pm ET