Staff at the Federal Communications Commission are inclined to recommend approval for AT&T's proposed acquisition of DirecTV, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. The AT&T deal presents fewer problems for regulators than the abandoned Comcast takeover of Time Warner Cable. AT&T’s deal would join its regional pay-TV business with DirecTV’s satellite operation; DirecTV is not yet active in the broadband market. The Federal Communications Commission sees the AT&T deal as helping competition and aiding the spread of broadband into rural areas that lack service, the report said.
The regulator hasn’t sat down with AT&T to finalize the concessions for the deal, something that needs to happen before an order is written up and sent to the commissioners to vote, according to people close to the situation. The Justice Department is also reviewing the deal. It has yet to raise any significant issues, the paper's sources said.
