FTC OK With Tribune/Local TV Holdings Deal

The Federal Trade Commission has given a clean bill of antitrust health to Tribune's planned purchase of Local TV Holdings.

The FTC released the list of merger's whose antitrust reviews had been terminated early and Tribune's $2.725 billion deal to buy Local's 19 TV stations was on it. That means neither the FTC, nor Justice, which divvy up the antitrust review, planned to take any action to block or condition the deal. An antitrust review by either the FTC or Justice--in this case most likely Justice--is triggered by mergers valued at least $70.9 million. If there are no antitrust issues, an early termination of the review is granted.