FCC's Martin wants agency to OK Liberty/DirecTV deal

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin participates in an Industry Insider session during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada January 8, 2008. Martin is proposing the agency approve Liberty Media's acquisition of News Corp's stake in DirecTV.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is proposing that the agency approve Liberty Media's acquisition of News Corp's stake in DirecTV.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told reporters on Friday the matter would be put to a vote by the five-member agency at its next open meeting on February 26.

Martin said he was proposing that some conditions which were imposed on News Corp in connection with the DirecTV stake remain in force after the deal.

News Corp. struck a deal in December 2006 to swap its controlling stake in top U.S. satellite television provider DirecTV Group Inc. for Liberty Media Holding Corp.'s stake in News Corp., which the companies had earlier expected to close in the second half of 2007.

The deal calls for News Corp to transfer its controlling stake in DirecTV, $550 million in cash and three regional sports networks for Liberty Media's 16.3 percent stake in News Corp.

The transaction amounted to an $11 billion stock buyback for News Corp.

The deal ended two years of negotiations between long-time associates and rivals Rupert Murdoch and John Malone, who once helped rescue News Corp from near bankruptcy.

(Reporting by Peter Kaplan, editing by Phil Berlowitz and Gunna Dickson)