Jeremy Hunt has written to Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after the 168-year-old paper was shut down.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Milly Dowler's parents are meeting Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
The murdered schoolgirl's phone was allegedly hacked in 2002 while she was still missing, and that revelation last week set in motion a train of events which ended with the closure of the News of the World (NoW).
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told the BBC: "These are appalling crimes which seem to have taken place and the victims have an important role in this process."
The BBC understands former NoW editor Rebekah Brooks could be questioned by police as a witness, rather than a suspect.
Mrs Brooks, who has denied having had any knowledge of hacking while she was editor from 2000 to 2003, is now chief executive of the NoW's publisher News International, which is owned by News Corp.
Shares in BSkyB opened more than 6% lower on Monday and have dipped below the 700p offer price proposed last year by News Corp, when it expressed interest in bidding for the 61% of shares in BSkyB it did not own.
The chairman of the media select committee, Tory MP John Whittingdale, said the BskyB bid should be put on hold.
He said: "In the present atmosphere it's become so poisonous, it is very difficult for this takeover to proceed. The best thing would be if it could be put on hold until we have a much clearer idea of who knew what, who was responsible."
Mr Hunt will suggest the NoW closure is "a significant change to the media landscape", our correspondent said.
Continue reading the main story Norman Smith Chief political correspondent, BBC Radio 4
The government may be unwilling to publicly sound the death knell of the planned Murdoch buy out of BSkyB but behind the scenes funeral arrangements are being made.
The reason? Public opinion.
Throughout the whole hacking scandal, the government has found itself lagging well behind public opinion and is determined not to allow itself to be seen as somehow on the side of Rupert Murdoch.
The problem ministers face, however, is in finding a politically palatable way of killing the deal without invoking the wrath of Mr Murdoch or the courts.
A reference to the Competition Commission would still leave the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt with the responsibility for taking the final decision.
A reference to Ofcom would not involve the government but Ofcom in the past has shown a marked reluctance to block such deals.
In his letter to the media regulator, Ofcom, and the OFT, Mr Hunt writes: "I would be grateful if you could indicate whether this development (and/or the events surrounding it) gives you any additional concerns in respect of plurality over and above those raised in your initial report to me on this matter received on 31 December 2010."
He goes on to ask if last week's events caused them to reconsider previous advice about the "credibility, sustainability or practicalities of the undertakings offered by News Corporation".
Commons vote
Labour leader Ed Miliband has demanded the BSkyB bid be referred to the Competition Commission and said the government could not rely on assurances from News Corp executives in the wake of the hacking scandal.
He has put down a motion calling for the bid to be delayed until the criminal investigation is completed and is seeking support from the Liberal Democrats and some Tories.
Sources have told the BBC that despite recognising the growing pressure to put the BSkyB bid on hold, Mr Hunt has to act in a quasi-judicial manner and cannot legally simply announce a delay after the police have completed their inquiries into phone hacking.
Jeremy Hunt, who was at the British Grand Prix on Sunday, has written to Ofcom News Corp chairman and chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, flew into London on Sunday to personally handle his organisation's response to the phone-hacking crisis.
After visiting News International for talks with senior executives, Mr Murdoch appeared later with Mrs Brooks. Asked what his priority was, he said: "This one," gesturing at her and smiling.
She is under pressure to quit after the paper was closed amid the damaging allegations about hacking.
She was the editor when voicemails on 13-year-old Milly Dowler's mobile phone were allegedly intercepted, but has denied knowing it was happening.
The emergence of those and other allegations last week prompted NI to announce the closure of NoW after 168 years in print.
Campaigners claim Mr Murdoch has been pulling the strings of Mr Cameron and Mr Hunt The paper's final edition, published on Sunday, included a full-page apology for hacking the mobile phones of hundreds of people. "Quite simply, we lost our way," it said.
E-mails found
Meanwhile, the BBC understands NI found e-mails in 2007 that appeared to show payments were made to police for information for stories.
The evidence of alleged criminal behaviour was not handed to the Metropolitan Police for investigation until 20 June, 2011, BBC business editor Robert Peston reported.
The e-mails appeared to show Andy Coulson, editor of the News of the World from 2003-07, authorising payments to the police for help with stories, Mr Peston reported.
And they also appear to show that phone-hacking went wider than the activities of a single rogue reporter, which the News of the World claimed at the time.
News International said it was "co-operating fully with the police".
The government has announced two independent inquiries into the scandal, firstly a judge-led probe into the activities of the NoW and other papers, and the failure of the original police investigation from 2005 into phone-hacking.
The second inquiry will examine the ethics and culture of the press.
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