Although federal regulators probably won't block a deal outright on anti-competitive grounds, they could prohibit Comcast, for instance, from denying rival subscription-TV services such as DirecTV access to NBC channels and other popular programming.
Under a deal expected to be announced today, Comcast would control the Peacock network and about two dozen cable channels such as Bravo, CNBC and SyFy, along with the cable lines to roughly a quarter of all U.S. households that pay for TV.
The regulatory review remains the biggest question mark now that all of the corporate pieces appear to be in place. Vivendi SA is expected to sell General Electric Co. the portion of NBC Universal it doesn't already own. GE, in turn, would sell a 51 percent stake in the entire unit to Comcast.
A review by the Federal Communications Commission and either the Justice Department or the Federal Trade Commission could take a year or longer.
The deal is bound to face tougher scrutiny than past ones, given a Democratic administration that has vowed to encourage diversity in media ownership and ramp up antitrust oversight overall.
"This is a new administration that has promised to be a tough cop on the beat," said Corie Wright, policy counsel for Free Press, a public interest group that opposes the deal. "Any conditions it exacts should and will be painful because this would be a tremendous consolidation of market power."
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