Order to sell controversial stake in ITV may cost Sky up to £250m

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The Government declared that the company must reduce its stake to below 7.5 per cent.

Business Secretary John Hutton also told BSkyB it cannot take a seat on the board of ITV.

The decision, which backs up recommendations from the Competition Commission watchdog, came after concerns that the deal could harm news and sports coverage.

Mr Hutton said Sky's stake in ITV, bought for £940million in November 2006, "resulted in a substantial lessening of competition within the UK market for all television".

Sky - which is a third owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp - bought its stake when ITV shares were valued at 135p.

But they have since plummeted, last week hitting an alltime low of 70.7p.

At this price, the stake has lost about £430million in value.

However, Sky may have at least six months to sell the shares, when the price may rise. It has four weeks to appeal against the decision.

ITV "warmly welcomed" the sell-off, saying it is "in the best interests of the overwhelming majority of our shareholders".