Comcast and AT&T Deals Put on Track for February Decision

The Federal Communications Commission will restart the informal, 180-day deadlines for deciding whether to let Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable and AT&T’s purchase of DirecTV proceed.

The FCC paused its reviews of both mergers in October. Each transaction is also under review by the Justice Department. Comcast’s review has 95 days to run under the FCC’s non-binding “clock,” and AT&T’s has 104 days left. The FCC stopped Comcast’s clock Oct. 3, saying it needed more information from the company. The agency suspended reviews in both deals Oct. 22 to allow time to resolve disputes over who can see television programming contracts.