Approval Talks Delay Comcast-NBC Deal

The long-awaited completion of the takeover of NBC Universal by Comcast will have to wait until 2011.

NBC Universal CEO Jeffrey Zucker sent a memo to staff members Dec 22 explaining that regulatory approval of the deal, under which Comcast will acquire 51 percent of NBC Universal from the General Electric Company, will not be finalized by the end of December, as Comcast executives had hoped. The delays have to do with some lingering issues involving what concessions Comcast will be asked to accept in order to win acceptance by the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC is preparing to circulate its order for the deal, perhaps as early as Dec 23. The order will include unspecified conditions to protect against consumer harm. Regulatory approval could come in early January.