Justice Clears Liberty-DirecTV

JUSTICE CLEARS LIBERTY-DIRECTV
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
A day after the deal won the Federal Communications Commission's blessing, the Justice Department said Tuesday it would not try to block Liberty Media’s plan to take effective control of DirecTV, the satellite TV provider with 16.8 million subscribers run by News Corp. since late 2003. The DOJ’s antitrust division clashed with Malone’s lawyers over the deal impact on pay-TV competition in Puerto Rico, dragging out the merger review for many months. The dispute centered on Malone’s joint interest in a small Puerto Rico cable system that competes with a DirecTV affiliate. The FCC gave Liberty one-year to divest one of the properties or to ensure that Malone does not have an attributable ownership stake in both the cable and satellite TV entities. The FCC’s condition evidently resolved Liberty's dispute with Justice's competition lawyers.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6535638.html?nid=4262