Universal will pitch against Carat, MediaCom and MindShare for the account, which includes all media planning and buying duties, taking in the Sky, Sky Plus and the Sky Bet accounts.
A spokesman for Sky said the review was not connected with any unhappiness with Universal McCann's performance, but was a periodic business review.
"We've called the review as it is good business practice to review supplier arrangements from time to time, and also we are looking to pursue our strategic objectives of driving sustained customer growth and will be looking to implement segmented media communications to do that," he said.
The media review follows the recent appointment of Jeremy Darroch as BSkyB's chief financial officer. Darroch joined from Dixons Group, where he was group finance officer. He replaced Martin Stewart, who leaves in August after losing out on the chief executive's job to James Murdoch.
The media review does not affect Sky's advertising account, which is split between a number of agencies. Mother recently scooped the £5m creative account for Sky Bet, BSkyB's betting and gambling business, and HHCL/Red Cell holds the £20m Sky Plus business, which has featured the unlikely pairings of Ronnie Corbett and Alice Cooper promoting its personal video recorder, among others.
Sky spent £45m in 2003, according to AC Nielsen.
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