News Corp has balked at selling off Sky News to satisfy Brussels. Despite that nose-thumbing, the European Commission has extended from December 8 to December 22 the deadline for the first phase of its competition investigation of Rupert Murdoch’s £12 billion ($19 billion) takeover of BSkyB. What Brussels is worried about is a 100% News Corp-owned BSkyB deal as the cornerstone of a global pay-TV empire. The European probe is separate from the investigation by British regulator Ofcom which will report on December 31 and still could derail the deal.