WASHINGTON, April 22 (UPI) -- Representatives for Comcast on Wednesday met with federal regulators from the U.S. Department of Justice, to address concerns over its troubled $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable.
Justice officials, who are responsible for ensuring any merger doesn't violate antitrust laws, met with the cable representatives as the agency nears its final recommendation as to whether the merger should be allowed or not.
The Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission are each reviewing the proposal for effectively the same reason -- to see if a joint Comcast-Time Warner company is free of potential violations and in the public's best interest.
Prior to Wednesday's meeting, Justice Department attorneys favored blocking the deal, Bloomberg reported Friday.
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Regulators' primary concern is that the merger would result in a company that wields too much power and makes it extremely difficult for competitors to survive. Comcast, already the nation's largest cable distributor, wants to buy Time Warner so it can acquire millions of subscribers in the United States' largest media markets like New York and Los Angeles.
"We had one in a series of meetings with the Department of Justice today, as well as another meeting with the FCC," Comcast spokesperson Sena Fitzmaurice said in a report by the Los Angeles Times. Details of Wednesday's discussions were not initially revealed.
Fitzmaurice's remarks seem to indicate that the cable company has also met with FCC regulators about the deal. Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that commission staff has recommended the agency also schedule a hearing with the companies' representatives.
The recommendation for a "hearing designation order" would put the merger in the hands of an administrative law judge, the Journal reported, and may be a strong sign the FCC opposes the deal. A hearing could delay the merger even longer, and even kill the plan. Some regulatory experts believe the procedure as a deal-killer.
Comcast announced the merger in February 2014 and has already spent $300 million on the deal, the Times report said.
Meeting with federal regulators might allow Comcast to offer certain concessions, intended to ease concerns, to get the merger approved. That's what happened four years ago when the company purchased NBC Universal -- which regulators might also be examining right now to see if Comcast followed through on its concessions then.
Tuesday, a group of six senators joined the growing list of opponents to the merger and sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who leads the Justice Department, and FCC chief Tom Wheeler.
"We have heard from consumers across the nation, as well as from advocacy groups, trade associations, and companies of all sizes, all of whom fear that the deal would harm competition across several different markets and would not serve the public interest," the group wrote.
If the deal goes unapproved, Comcast could walk away without paying Time Warner a cent -- a provision stipulated last year when the companies first agreed to merge.
