U.S. FCC pauses clock on Comcast-TWC, AT&T-DirecTV merger reviews

by 

 

Reuters

The 180-day decision countdown, known as a “shot clock,” is non-binding.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Friday paused its informal 180-day countdown to deciding the fate of two mergers – Comcast’s with Time Warner Cable  TWC -1.06%  and AT&T’s with DirecTV  DTV -1.11% .

The agency cited the pending court decision related to how it should handle disclosures of the companies’ various contract agreements with media firms. The countdown, known as a “shot clock,” is non-binding.

“At this time, we believe it is prudent to pause the informal 180-day transaction clocks because the commission would be advantaged by knowing the resolution of the pending Petition for Review before the transaction clocks reach the 180-day mark, which both are slated to do by the end of March,” the FCC said in the announcement.