FCC Lifts Conditions on News Corp.'s Purchase of Major Stake in DirecTV

The Federal Communications Commission has removed the last conditions on News Corp's purchase of a major stake in DirecTV from Hughes Corp. The remaining conditions required News Corp. to participate in arbitration disputes over carriage of regional sports nets and participate in arbitration over retransmission consent negotiations with multichannel video providers. Some public interest groups and competitors -- including Dish and the American Cable Association -- had opposed lifting the conditions on the company, but it seemed all but a foregone conclusion after News Corp. dealt off that 41% stake to Liberty in 2008, or what the FCC described as a "material change in circumstance."