Review Of Time Warner-Comcast Merger On Hold

(RTTNews) - The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that it is pausing the informal 180-day clocks for the pending reviews of Comcast Corp.'s (CMCSA) proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) as well as the merger between AT&T, Inc. (T) and DirecTV (DTV).

The antitrust watchdog has cited the regulatory limbo to the pending court verdicts related to disclosure of records of video-programming contracts with third-party suppliers.

"At this time, we believe it is prudent to pause the informal 180-day transaction clocks because the Commission would be advantaged by knowing the resolution of the pending Petition for Review before the transaction clocks reach the 180-day mark, which both are slated to do by the end of March," FCC said in a statement.

The FCC also said it reserves the right to restart the clock as and when it believes it will best serve the public interest. It intends to provide further guidance as it becomes appropriate.

The decision on both the mergers were scheduled to be announced at the end of March, the end of the informal 180-day review period.

Earlier, it also stopped the informal 180-day review period clock for three weeks until January 12, 2015, when it restarted, citing that Time Warner Cable was withholding certain documents requested by it. The clock was also stopped twice in the month of October.

On the issue of Video Programming Confidential Information or VPCI, a petition for review and a request for stay were filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on November 13, 2014 with regard to the review of VPCI under the protective orders. The companies have argued that the information contained confidential pricing and strategy information.

The court granted the request for stay on November 21. The court heard oral argument on the merits of the petition for review on February 20, 2015, but has not yet issued its decision.

A combined Comcast-Time Warner entity is expected to control an estimated 35 percent of broadband Internet service coverage and just under 30 percent of the country's pay television subscribers.

Comcast agreed in mid-February 2014 to acquire Time Warner Cable in a $45.2 billion all-stock friendly merger deal. Time Warner Cable was to merge with and into a 100 percent owned subsidiary of Comcast.

The deal was originally expected to close in early 2015. Shareholders of both companies had in October overwhelmingly approved the merger.

The deal was struck after Comcast trumped a takeover attempt made for Time Warner Cable earlier by smaller rival Charter Communications, Inc. (CHTR), the fourth-largest cable operator in the U.S.

Meanwhile, AT&T agreed in May 2014 to buy satellite TV operator DIRECTV in a cash and stock deal valued at about $48.5 billion. The deal received shareholder approval in September 2014.