Dish Asks FCC to Stop Clock on Sprint/SoftBank Clearwire Deal

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Dish has asked the FCC to stop the clock on its review of
Japanese company SoftBank's proposed purchase of Sprint and Sprint's proposed
purchase of a controlling interest in Clearwire, given that Dish has made a
higher offer for Clearwire that makes the deal "unripe for consideration,"
says the satellite operator.

Sprint already owns just under 50% of Clearwire, with other
investors including Comcast, Sprint, Google, Time Warner Cable and Bright House
Networks.

Dishlaunched a surprise bid for Clearwire earlier this month.

"Indeed, with competing offers for Clearwire in place,
premature Commission evaluation of Sprint's initial offer could undermine the
Commission's policy objective of neutrality in takeover contests by giving SoftBank
and Sprint (together, the 'Applicants') a very real advantage in the corporate
valuation process," Dish said in a request to hold the deal in abeyance.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.