Justice Clears Liberty-DirecTV
DOJ Antitrust Division Closes On Merger Without Enforcement Action
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 2/26/2008 9:10:00 AM
Washington – 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.
“We’ve closed our investigation,” Gina Talamona, deputy director of the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs, said Tuesday afternoon.
The DOJ’s announcement came one day after the Federal Communications Commission approved the same $11 billion transaction in which John Malone’s Liberty Media will acquire News Corp.’s 38.4% interest in DirecTV in exchange for Liberty’s equity interest in News Corp.
Liberty also receives $550 million in cash and one regional sports network (RSNs) each in Denver, Pittsburgh and Seattle.
FCC and DOJ approvals were needed for the deal to close.
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.
“The antitrust division was looking at the transaction. We closed it and we took no enforcement action,” Talamona said.
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