US telecoms regulator the FCC has restarted its informal 180-day shot-clock to review the planned merger of telco AT&T and satellite provider DirecTV, and that of cablecos Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC).
The countdown resumed on 3 December,…
US telecoms regulator the FCC has restarted its informal 180-day shot-clock to review the planned merger of telco AT&T and satellite provider DirecTV, and that of cablecos Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC).
The countdown resumed on 3 December, respectively at day 70 and day 85 of the reviews, the FCC said in a statement.
The investigations were paused on 22 October due to opposition by a number of media companies to provide access to confidential video programming agreements between them and the pay-TV operators.
The media companies appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which has allowed the FCC to give third parties access to highly confidential documents other than those related to video programming confidential information (VPCI), while it examines the case.
These parties will now have time until 7 January for the AT&T-DirecTV merger and until 23 December for the Comcast-TWC combination to file their comments on the proposed deals, which are also being reviewed by the US Department of Justice.
Once the court of appeals rules on the video programming dispute, the FCC said it might once again extend the deadline to “provide adequate time for reviewing parties to review and comment on the VPCI and for the commission to consider such comments in its analysis”.
Commenting on the announcement, an AT&T representative told TelecomFinance that the company continues to look forward to closing the DirecTV deal in the first half of next year.
A Comcast spokesperson said:”We will continue to work with the FCC to complete its review of the transaction in the first quarter of 2015″.
The US$45bn Comcast-TWC merger has faced criticism from a number of industry players, including satellite operator Dish Network, which expressed concerns that the deal would lead to reduced competition in the TV and internet markets.
The FCC’s ongoing AWS-3 spectrum, which kicked off on 13 November, has so far reached US$40.72bn, far above its US$10.1bn reserve price
Although the bidding is anonymous, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile US as well as Dish Network are expected to be among the highest bidders.
