US: FCC picks up where it left off on Comcast, AT&T reviews

The Federal Communications Commission has restarted the informal 180-day review period of proposed mergers involving Comcast and AT&T, say reports, after pausing the reviews to resolve a dispute over whether the agency should make certain company documents public.

The FCC said Wednesday that the self-imposed “shot clock” will restart at day 70 for AT&T’s proposed acquisition of DirecTV, and at day 85 for Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable.

The merger probes were halted after various programmers resisted the FCC’s demands to make their television contracts public for third-party reviewers of the mergers. While the FCC said those documents were crucial for a complete overview of the deals, the programmers argued that they contained market-sensitive information.

The programmers brought the FCC to court over the demands, but the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia temporarily halted the FCC’s order. It is still reviewing the dispute.

Reports say the FCC could further delay its merger reviews depending on how the court rules on the matter.

Full content: Reuters

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