DIRECTV Defends Liberty Takeover at Portals
DIRECTV filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission late Monday defending Liberty Media's proposed takeover of its business, reminding regulators that the deal is really trading one boss for another boss.
"This transaction involves replacing one de facto controlling shareholder in DIRECTV with another. Nothing more, nothing less," DIRECTV said in its filing. The satellite TV company also suggested its proposed new shareholder "is substantially less vertically integrated" than its existing controlling shareholder, News Corp.
In addition, DIRECTV said Liberty Media has agreed to be bound by all relevant conditions that applied to News Corp. and its takeover of the DBS platform in late 2003.
In the satcaster's comments, DIRECTV took on critics of the Liberty Media takeover, including those who said the company may reduce the number of local TV markets it serves after completion of the deal.
"DIRECTV has spent, and will continue to spend, billions of dollars in providing local-into-local service to as many Americans as economically possible," the company said.
The small dish company also targeted comments from EchoStar and RCN about its efforts to obtain exclusive programming properties saying, "Conditions related to exclusive arrangements are inappropriate here because the proposed transaction neither creates any additional exclusives nor increases DIRECTV's incentive or ability to obtain such exclusives."
DIRECTV said it's been seeking exclusive rights to premium, niche programming from unaffiliated providers long before - and during - its affiliation with News Corp.
"No commenter has provided a plausible reason to conclude that de facto control by Liberty Media would make DIRECTV even more likely to obtain exclusives," the company said.
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