Comcast To Meet With Justice Dept. To Discuss Time Warner Cable Merger

(YayAdrian)

In the wake of a report that antitrust attorneys at the U.S. Dept. of Justice are leaning toward blocking the pending $45 billion merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, it looks like the cable giants are going to meet with the DOJ later this week to discuss the status of the deal.

This is according to Bloomberg, which reports that the DOJ is looking into Comcast’s involvement with the Hulu streaming service it co-owns with News Corp and Walt Disney Co.

After Comcast acquired NBC Universal (and its share of Hulu) in 2010, the cable giant was supposed to become a passive investor. The DOJ has been reviewing whether Comcast was too involved in keeping Disney from selling off its stake in Hulu in 2013.

If the DOJ and FCC don’t sue to block the merger, they will likely try to put conditions on the deal. Because Comcast would not face any financial penalty if the merger falls apart, the company could walk away from the acquisition if it feels that the restrictions aren’t worth the additional 10 million customers it would acquire.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist