DIRECTV-Liberty Deal Nearly Done

The long awaited marriage between Liberty Media and DIRECTV looks like it will be completed at any time now that the Federal Communications Commission has given its approval to the transaction. The FCC voted 5-0 to approve the deal, with the three republicans and two democrats approving the transfer of News Corporation’s 38.4% stake in DIRECTV to Liberty Media. In exchange, News Corp. will receive Liberty’s 16.3% holding in News.

Approval of the deal has been expected, but process has taken longer than expected. Originally agreed upon in December of 2006, the FCC took over 14 months to give the deal its blessing. The companies involved had expected to be able to complete the deal before the end of 2007.

So now the big question is: What’s next for DIRECTV?

The satellite television company has been running like a top, even with the ownership changes brewing. Now, John Malone will certainly start to make his presence known. The Chairman of Liberty Media now has a pay television distribution network of massive proportion. Will he head down the street in Englewood, Colorado to see if Charlie Ergen will finally sell Dish Network?

Probably not. In an interview recently published at BusinessWeek, Malone didn’t seem to think a Dish Network-DirecTV alliance would be in the cards. Said Malone:

“I don’t think the regulatory climate would allow the two largest satellite operators to merge right now. If you get an administration that gave us different leadership at the DOJ and FCC, that might present some possibilities.”

Still that doesn’t mean that Dish and DIRECTV won’t be cutthroat competitors. Malone sees cooperation between the companies in the future, as cooperation on content distribution and other deals may be in the cards. In fact, Malone sees cable TV as his primary competitor, Comcast and Time Warner being the large cable operators where DIRECTV could entice new customers and increase market share.

Yet many questions remain regarding what Liberty will do with their new stake in the satellite TV provider. Look for DIRECTV to try to push it up a notch in the months ahead as the battle for customers intensifies.