Justice Seeks More Information on Comcast-NBC Universal
Antitrust and public interest review of Comcast’s purchase of control of NBC Universal is gaining momentum. The Justice Department last week asked the companies for more information on their deal while the FCC Media Bureau is close to seeking public comment on it, government and industry officials said.
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It will take several months for the companies to answer Justice’s second request for information, said an antitrust lawyer. The request had been widely expected and doesn’t signal the agency will block the deal (CD Jan 19 p8). “It was pretty likely that the reviewing agency would issue a second request given the magnitude of this deal, the industry in which it’s taking place, the degree of concentration that you see and as you've seen over the last few weeks the amount of focus this has gotten on the Hill,” said attorney Christopher Kelly of Mayer Brown, which isn’t involved in the deal. “It doesn’t prejudge what DOJ will do at the end of the day -- a majority of deals on which DOJ issues second requests on are cleared. But it does mean there will be serious scrutiny given to this deal."
The department has “an investigation concerning the proposed transaction,” said a Justice spokeswoman. She declined further comment. A spokeswoman for the Media Bureau declined comment, as did spokespeople for NBC Universal and Comcast.
Issuance last week by the bureau of a protective order to Comcast, NBC Universal and General Electric, NBCU’s parent company, signaled the regulator is moving ahead with review of the deal, agency officials said. The next step in review of major transactions usually is issuance of a public notice, they said. FCC public notices on transactions generally set a deadline for comments during which parties can object to or support the deal and require lobbying meetings on the transaction to be reported in ex parte filings.