FCC to Restart Merger Clocks After New Pleading Dates Set

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The FCC has signaled it will be restarting the informal shot clocks on two major merger reviews, but not until new comment cycles are established.

The FCC stopped the informal 180-day shot clocks on vetting the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV mergers last month while it resolved issues surrounding third-party access to competitively sensitive programming contracts.

It resolved those Tuesday (Nov. 4), denying challenges by content companies to hundreds of requests by individuals seeking access, and upholding its modifications to its protective orders for that information meant to allay those programmer concerns (it hadn't).

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John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.