The Comcast Time Warner merger has got a lot of people concerned, regulators are that entirely open to the idea as well which is why it hasn’t been closed yet. Comcast has been working very hard recently to convince regulators to approve the $45 billion merger but if recent reports are true this might not happen. The FCC could effectively kill Comcast’s chances of merging with Time Warner.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal the Federal Communications Commission is recommending to send this matter to an administrative law judge for hearing.
This might not look like a drastic move on the face of it but it would effectively be the end of the merger because the agency’s lengthy judicial process would drown the company in so much paperwork that it will not longer pursue the merger.
Technically it wouldn’t be the FCC that will swing the axe, it will only create such conditions which make it difficult for the company to go ahead with its plan.
FCC has done this before, it did this back in 2002 when EchoStar wanted to merge with DirecTV. The agency also sent AT&T’s bid to acquire T-Mobile back in 2011 for a hearing and that too ended up in AT&T backing off.
The FCC has not commented on WSJ’s report yet.
Filed in . Read more about Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Source: recode.net