AT&T has reached a tentative deal with antitrust officials to help pave the way for its proposed $49 billion acquisition of DirecTV, The Post has learned.
The telecom giant has agreed to unspecified conditions in order to win approval from the Justice Department for the bid, sources said.
The DOJ, which issued a second request for information six weeks ago for more information, will likely sign off on the deal in next few months.
The Federal Communications Commission still has not ruled on the merger and is in the public-comment process.
If the DOJ and FCC are of the same mind, the merger may clear both agencies in the first quarter, a source said.
In May, AT&T announced the deal to buy the largest US satellite-TV company provider.
The move will allow AT&T to add DirecTV’s 20 million subscribers to its 5.7 million U-Verse TV service subscribers, which currently spans 22 states.
Critics of the planned merger believe the convergence of the few remaining telecom and cable giants will raise prices for consumers.
In July, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) wrote a letter to the Justice Department critical of the deal.
“If AT&T is permitted to acquire DirecTV, the combined entity will have enhanced power in virtually every corner of the telecommunications market — power that AT&T potentially could use to obtain an unfair advantage over consumers and competitors,” Franken wrote. “As such, I have some concerns about this deal.”
AT&T’s preliminary deal with regulators could also prove helpful to Comcast, which is seeking to gain approval to buy rival Time Warner Cable.
AT&T’s agreement could serve as a sort of road map for Comcast, helping it to navigate the regulatory waters and anticipate what conditions it is likely to face.
AT&T-DirecTV’s combined 26 million customers would be second only to Comcast and TWC, which if combined would boast 30 million.
AT&T and the DOJ declined comment.