Comcast acquisition of NBC Universal gets court nod

MUMBAI: US District Judge Richard Leon has approved Comcast Corp.?s acquisition of NBC Universal with conditions that a Federal Court will oversee the deal for two more years.

Leon ruled that the Justice Department and the combined company must report on arbitration actions initiated by online video distributors under the final judgment. The distributors feared they would lose access to NBC?s content because of the acquisition.

He ordered department lawyers to report back on how many online video distributors sought permission to arbitrate under the final judgment and how many were refused.

"Since neither the court nor the parties has a crystal ball to forecast" the effectiveness of the final judgment, the additional steps are necessary to protect the public interest," Leon has written.

Comcast?s proposed acquisition of NBC Universal won approval on 18 January from the US regulators under an agreement with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Justice Department.