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FCC Restarts Clock for News Corp-DirecTVWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Monday resumed its informal 180-day clock for reviewing News Corp. Ltd.'s plan to acquire control of No. 1 U.S. satellite television provider DirecTV.
The agency on Oct. 10 put its review on hold to consult with antitrust authorities at the U.S. Justice Department and to seek more information from News Corp. and DirecTV's parent, Hughes Electronics Corp. <GMH.N> The additional information sought has been submitted and "we also have substantially completed our discussions with the Department of Justice," Kenneth Ferree, the FCC official heading up the review, said in a letter to the parties. There are 30 days left on the review clock, which is not binding. Ferree has said in the past that he hopes to complete work on the deal by the end of the year. News Corp. <NCP.AX> <NWS.N> has proposed acquiring for $6.6 billion a 34 percent controlling stake in Hughes, giving it access to DirecTV's distribution platform. FCC Chairman Michael Powell has concerns about the deal that may require the companies to accept additional conditions to win the agency's approval, a source familiar with the situation has said previously. It was not clear what those concerns or possible conditions were. News Corp. has already made some concessions on sports and local broadcasting. © Copyright 2003 Reuters. Reuters content is the intellectual property
of Reuters or its third-party content providers. Any copying,
republication, or redistribution of Reuters content, including by
caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the
prior written consent of Reuters.
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