DirecTV's Malone on Potential Comcast-NBCU Deal: Regulators Will Need to Put a Check on Comcast's Market Power WSJ

John Malone, the chairman of DirecTV owner Liberty Media, says the government will need to monitor how a combined Comcast NBCU would wield its market power, according to the Wall Street Journal. (NOTE: The Journal's content is behind a paid firewall.)

According to the WSJ, when asked by a reporter about a possible Comcast acquisition of NBC Universal, Malone said "If regulators don't control costs and the market power of a content owner, then basically the other players in the industry have to play the same game."

Thus, the WSJ wrote,  "DirecTV would look at 'horizontal or vertical acquisitions' [in Malone's words] such as programming to counter anything Comcast may do."

--Chuck Ross