London, Feb 6: UK competition watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is considering whether to launch an inquiry into complaints about predatory pricing by Rupert Murdoch's News International newspapers, said The Guardian on Friday.The report comes after senior executives from four rival newspaper publishers went to the OFT to discuss complaints about pricing on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by the main rivals of News International's Times newspaper -- The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and The Independent. News International is part of Murdoch's News Corp Ltd media empire.
The Times has been accused of undercutting rivals amid allegations of cross-subsidising the newspaper division with profits from other more lucrative parts of the Murdoch empire such as the Sky satellite television unit.
The Times sells for 20 pence on Monday, 35 pence until Friday and 20 pence on Saturday.
The OFT refused to say whether a probe would be launched, but a spokeswoman said the watchdog officialshad been "in listening mode".
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
