Regulators to rule over Televisa-Iusacell deal next week

MEXICO CITY Jan 18 (Reuters) - Mexico's competition regulators will decide next Tuesday whether to approve broadcaster Televisa's proposed acquisition of half of cellphone company Iusacell, a $1.6 billion tie-up that would combine the muscle of two of the country's top media moguls.

"The planned date is the 24th," Eduardo Perez Motta, head of competition commission Cofeco, said in an interview with Radio Formula on Wednesday. "The decision will have to be taken next week."

The Televisa-Iusacell deal, announced in April last year, has been under scrutiny by regulators as Televisa's chief executive, Emilio Azcarraga, and Iusacell's owner Ricardo Salinas, seek to offer a one-stop shop for fixed and mobile phone services, Internet and cable television.

A joint effort between the two would also create a stronger competitor in the phone market to the world's richest man, Carlos Slim. His cellphone giant, America Movil , dominates the market and its Telmex unit, the top fixed-line phone and Internet provider in the country, was banned in 2011 from tapping the TV market.

Televisa, the main producer of Spanish-language shows in the world, already has cable, fixed-line telephone and Internet services in Mexico.

Salinas owns the country's No.2 broadcaster, TV Azteca , and is expanding fast with its fiber-optic system, Totalplay, which offers the same three services as Televisa, plus Iusacell's cellphones.

While the high-profile case is studied by regulators, analysts and other market watchers have said three outcomes are possible; it could be blocked, approved as originally proposed or approved with restrictions.