The Justice Department gives a greenlight to the deal between Verizon and a consortium of cable companies to move forward on swapping wireless spectrum. But there are conditions.
Verizon’s controversial plan to purchase spectrum from cable companies appears likely to win approval from the FCC. But the Justice Department also must sign off on the deal before it can go through, and that agency reportedly has concerns about whether the deal will harm consumers.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Justice Department is conducting a wide-ranging antitrust investigation into whether cable companies are acting improperly to quash nascent competition from online video. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal says Justice officials have spoken to several online video providers, including Netflix and Hulu and have also questioned Comcast, Time Warner Cable and other cable companies about issues such as setting limits on the amount of data a subscriber can download each month. Journal subscribers can read the story here.
The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission made the announcement today. Justice is filing a civil suit against the Comcast chairman, but with the proposed settlement agreement that includes the fine. Officials went after him because this is the third time Roberts failed to report that he had been granted stock above a government-set threshold that required him to make an official disclosure.
Federal regulators aren’t expected to decide this week on whether to approve a merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, as they weigh placing conditions on Internet access, as well as other requirements, according to sources familiar with the reviews.
