Cable-Industry Document Access Case Could Delay Mergers

A federal court case about access to sensitive cable-industry documents continues to complicate US regulatory reviews of two major mergers: Comcast’s deal for Time Warner Cable and AT&T’s planned acquisition of DirecTV. A three-judge panel of a US appeals court here voiced concerns about a decision by the Federal Communications Commission to give opponents of the mergers limited access to video-programming contracts between the merging companies and TV-channel owners such as CBS, Walt Disney. and Viacom. Robert Long, a lawyer for the content companies, argued the FCC acted in a “totally unprecedented” manner in allowing representatives for third parties like Dish Network to have access to confidential business documents, including hundreds of thousands of pages of materials on pricing and negotiating strategies for dealing with distributors like Comcast. Disclosure of the material “would be highly damaging,” Mr. Long said during a nearly hourlong session before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which has blocked the FCC from allowing access to the material while the case continues.