News Corp. and Liberty Ask FCC To OK DirecTV Deal

NEWS CORP AND LIBERTY ASK FCC TO OK DIRECTV DEAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
News Corp. Monday filed a petition with the FCC for permission to transfer its interest in DirecTV to Liberty Media. Liberty will also get three regional sports networks serving Denver, Pittsburgh and Seattle and $550 million in cash in the deal, which is valued at about $11 billion. Liberty will also give up its stake in News Corp. Liberty has agreed to abide by the conditions--including program access and carriage conditions for the regional sports networks -- that were imposed on News Corp. by the FCC when it approved the company's purchase of over a third of the satellite broadcaster from Hughes Corp. in January 2004. Those include not Liberty's agreement not to enter into exclusive programming arrangements with any multichannel video provider, discriminate against unaffiliated program services, and to submit and regional sports network carriage impasse to independent arbitration. Liberty owns QVC and Starz! It spun off its half-interest in Discovery in 2005, although Liberty Chairman John Malone is Chairman, CEO and a major stockholder in Discovery. Liberty also owns a stake in satellite broadband company WildBlue, Expedia, GSN and Hallmark, among others. The WildBlue stake could be of particular interest to the FCC. Broadband competition and roll-out to underserved areas is a big priority for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. In the petition, News Corp. and Liberty pointed out that the WildBlue interest, as well as that of Starz! and QVC, would "lead to continued development and deployment of innovative products that will be available to all U.S. consumers, including those underserved or unserved by terrestrial alternatives."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6411134.html?display=Breaking...

* FCC Gets News’ DirecTV-Liberty Filing
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6411170.html?display=Breaking+News