US media company Sinclair Broadcast Group has been given the green light to close its takeover of pay-television broadcaster the Tennis Channel by the Federal Trade Commission.
Sinclair last month agreed a $350m (€317.6m) deal to acquire the Tennis Channel. The Broadcasting & Cable website said the regulator has included the deal on its list of transactions granted early termination of their Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust reviews.
Early termination means the US Justice Department and FTC, which releases the list, has found no reason to block or condition the deal. Broadcasting & Cable added that, as the merger does not involve the transfer of Federal Communications Commission licenses, the FCC does not have to rule on the public interest benefits.
Tennis Channel, which launched in 2003, also includes over-the-top subscription services in the shape of TC Plus and TV Everywhere, and holds rights to 90 per cent of all televised tennis in the US.