FCC Commissioner Predicts Agency Would Block Comcast-Time Warner Deal

In an unusual move, an FCC Commissioner has warned in an interview the agency is likely to block a rumored merger plan between media giants Comcast and Time Warner.

Ajit Pai, a Republican commissioner, told that The Wall Street Journal that the Obama administration has applied greater scrutiny to proposed mergers and acquisitions and would likely try and scuttle the merger. He cited the failed 2011 AT&T effort to buy rival T-Mobile.

But Pai did say he believed the idea would have a better chance for approval under a Republican administration.

Pai is one of two Republicans on the five-member commission. Tom Wheeler, a Democrat, was sworn in as chairman of the agency last month.