The Department of Justice made a second request...
The Department of Justice made a second request for information on the $1.5 billion Gannett/Belo merger, the companies said in a news release Friday. A Department of Justice spokesman said DOJ would not confirm that a second request had been…
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made but said it was “reviewing the transaction.” DOJ wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the request, but public interest groups, the ACA, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV have filed petitions targeting sharing agreements connected with the merger as violating FCC ownership rules and antitrust laws. A second request is “a standard part of the DOJ review process,” said Gannett and Belo in their release. Though such requests are “not infrequent” in large mergers, they do delay a transaction’s completion and add expense, said a broadcast attorney with a connection to the matter. Second requests also indicate that some portion of a transaction raised enough questions with a federal agency to spark further review, the attorney pointed out. Gannett and Belo may not close the transaction until 30 days after they have “substantially complied” with the request or the waiting period is otherwise terminated by the DOJ, said the release. Gannett and Belo said they will “respond promptly” to the second request and that they expect to close the transaction by the end of 2013. The merger also is awaiting FCC approval.