FCC Yet to Restart AT&T/DirecTV Shot Clock

The cable and broadband deals will soon be lining up at the FCC—Charter/TWC and now Avago/Broadcom—with the shot clock yet to restart on the FCC’s vetting of the AT&T/DirecTV deal, though that does not mean the merger-review team is not vetting the deal.

The clock has been stopped since March—on day 170 of the informal 180 deadline—at the time ostensibly to let a federal court decide the issue of access to third-party contracts. That was decided a month ago.

An FCC source speaking on background points out that the clock is a guideline and can be stopped for other reasons outside the FCC's control, like still needing more documents.

An AT&T source speaking on background said the holdup was unclear, but that the company submitted some more documents this week and hopefully that might get the clock moving again.

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.