FCC OKs AT&T's DirecTV Spinoff With No Conditions

Saying it accepted the argument that AT&T’s spinoff of its North American video distribution business poses no substantial harms, the FCC signed off on the related license transfers Friday. AT&T didn’t immediately comment.

Network affiliates had sought a condition that New DirecTV be required to provide local-into-local service in the markets where it doesn’t now, but the FCC declined. It also opted not to adopt a condition proposed by indie programmer RMG that New DirecTV be required to allocate at least 1% of its channel lineup for rural-focused programming.