Rumor Mill: AT&T reaches agreement with DOJ on DirecTV purchase

AT&T has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice, clearing a major regulatory hurdle in its quest to purchase DirecTV, according to an exclusive report in the New York Post.

Citing unnamed sources "close to the process," the paper says AT&T (NYSE: T) has agreed to a number of unspecified conditions in order to gain regulatory approval for the $49 billion takeover bid.

DirecTV and AT&T both (NASDAQ: DTV) had no comment to FierceCable's Monday-morning inquies for confirmation. 

A DOJ sign-off would remove the antitrust hurdles that many analysts feel are the biggest potential regulatory threat to a AT&T/DirecTV union. However, the merger would still have to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission.

Ultimate approval would allow AT&T to add DirecTV's 20 million satellite-TV subscribers to a video services portfolio that includes 5.7 million U-verse TV customers.

Developing…

For more:
- read this New York Post story

Related links:
DirecTV to pay around $1.4B to renew NFL Sunday Ticket, report says
AT&T, DirecTV demand that FCC not extend comment period for merger review
Senate sets June 24 hearing for proposed AT&T-DirecTV merger