The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is ready to give the $49 billion AT&T-DirecTV merger a thumbs up, although with some caveats.
On Tuesday Chairman Tom Wheeler shared his approval recommendation with the FCC’s other four commissioners.
Approval would come with some conditions, as is common in proposed deals of this size. The specific conditions are unknown at this time, according to the person who shared Wheeler’s decision on condition of anonymity. Net neutrality protections, however, are sure to be among them.
An FCC spokeswoman declined to comment.
It is also unclear when the commissioners will formally vote, but Wheeler’s recommendation makes government approval of the deal all but certain.
The other regulatory agency reviewing the deal, the Justice Department, has already signaled its approval.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported Wheeler’s decision on Tuesday, said AT&T-DirecTV is the “biggest media deal of the past year.”
That’s because Comcast abandoned its bid for Time Warner Cable back in April in the face of FCC and Justice Department opposition.
This deal is different for several reasons. Among them: DirecTV and AT&T haven’t faced the same kind of stiff competition that Comcast did; they aren’t big owners of TV programming like Comcast is; they don’t provide broadband to as many households as Comcast does.
Still, the government’s review of the proposed deal lasted more than a year. AT&T and DirecTV had anticipated approval by the end of June, but the review continued through much of July.
