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Business secretary Vince Cable's decision to refer News Corporation's £12bn bid to take control of broadcaster BSkyB to regulator Ofcom has been welcomed in the Lords.
Cable's announcement came ahead of a Lords debate on Thursday, opened by Channel 4 deputy chair and Labour peer Lord Puttnam as he noted the importance of media plurality in democracy.
The regulator will look at whether it would be damaging to media plurality if News Corp successfully acquires the 61 per cent of BSkyB shares it does not already own.
Former film-maker, Lord Puttnam told peers: "This morning's announcement would indicate that we are in safe, or at least very decisive, hands."
He warned that the UK could be "on the edge of a very slipper slope" towards majority control of the country's media by a "single US-based owner".
News Corp, headed by Rupert Murdoch, already has considerable media interest in the UK through its ownership of The Times, The Sunday Times, the Sun and The News of the World. It has been a major shareholder of BSkyB since its launch in 1989.
Lord Puttnam voiced his concerns that regulators and legislators in Europe and the UK would "remain supine and simply wave this acquisition through".
The purchase of the remaining BSkyB shares, he said, would give News Corp "an unprecedented level of control over the UK media".
This would be "extremely damaging, not only to media plurality but to informed democratic debate".
Puttnam foresaw "the chilling prospect of a disparity of scale in which all competition, not just the BBC, is frozen to death".
He added: "The UK is not a banana republic and we do ourselves no favours whatever by appearing to behave like one."
Former chair of the Lords communications committee Lord Fowler referred the "excellent decision" made by the business secretary, praising his "speedy" decision making.
He told peers: "A media concentrated in too few hands can have the effect of limiting freedom of expression and diversity of view."
Former Guardian chair, Lord Gavron, said newspaper circulations are dropping at an "increasing speed".
He said profits are falling and many papers are "making large and growing losses".
"It is unlikely that newspapers will exist in their present form in 10 or at least 15 years from now."
Despite describing Rupert Murdoch as a "straight, loyal and honourable" man, he said he was against his plans to acquire the rest of Sky.
He added: "History tells us that, when a great tycoon goes, his assets tend to change hands.
"We could end up with a Russian oligarch, an Arab prince or a hedge fund millionaire. It's very difficult to stop someone who has the money from buying a public company."
Composer and impresario Lord Lloyd Webber said the BBC should be "allowed to compete unfettered in the popular market", reducing reliance on the licence fee.
"Instead of bashing the BBC, we should be looking at how we can breathe new life into it and how to set it free."
Crossbench peer and chairman of the Advertising Standards Authority, Lord Smith of Finsbury warned that "the government will be lobbied, but they must resist".
"We must ensure plurality of media ownership and therefore of media voices."
Former culture minister, Baroness Rawlings said there is a balance to be struck between protecting consumers and democratic debate, "while also promoting competition and supporting innovation".
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