FCC okays Liberty-DirecTV deal with conditions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Liberty Media Corp's (LINTA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) acquisition of News Corp's (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) stake in DirecTV Group Inc (DTV.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 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 Liberty and DirecTV, the top U.S. satellite television provider, to continue to abide by program access and other requirements the agency previously 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.

DirecTV issued a statement lauding the approval. "We welcome Liberty Media as our largest shareholder and we look forward to breaking ground on this exciting new chapter at DirecTV ..." a representative of DirecTV said.

News Corp struck a deal in December 2006 to swap its controlling stake in 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 and Braden Reddall)