UPDATE 1-US FCC OKs Liberty-DirecTV deal with conditions
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WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Liberty Media Corp's (LINTA.O) acquisition of News Corp's NWSa.N stake in DirecTV Group Inc (DTV.O) cleared a major hurdle on Monday as U.S. communications regulators conditionally approved the deal.
The Federal Communications Commission said the agency had voted to allow the deal to go forward after concluding that "as conditioned, the public interest benefits of the (deal) outweighed the potential harms."
As a condition for approval, the FCC required that Liberty and DirecTV continue to abide by program access and other requirements the agency previously had imposed on News Corp to preserve competition.
In addition, the FCC required that Liberty "sever" the common ownership of Liberty cable systems in Puerto Rico and DirecTV operations there within one year.
News Corp struck a deal in December 2006 to swap its controlling stake in top U.S. satellite television provider DirecTV for Liberty's stake in News Corp, which the companies 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 amounts to an $11 billion stock buyback for News Corp.
The deal ends two years of negotiations between long-time associates and rivals, News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch and Liberty Media Chairman John Malone. (Reporting by Peter Kaplan; Editing by Andre Grenon)
