Fox's $22 billion Roku deal needs more than a consent decree

Fox's $22 billion purchase of Roku is likely to survive Justice Department review and close under a consent decree, Semafor reported on November 3, citing people familiar with the deliberations. The terms of that decree have not been set, and the department could still shift course, those people said. If the agreement rests on behavioral promises, it will be the weakest available answer to the problem the deal creates.

The combination puts Fox's news and sports programming behind the operating system that decides what viewers see when a television turns on. Rivals have told Semafor they fear Fox will steer attention toward its own channels. Fox also owns Tubi, a direct competitor to Roku's free ad-supported service; Lachlan Murdoch, chief executive of Fox, has said the two should run as separate businesses while advertising is sold across both, according to Semafor.

Conduct remedies in distribution cases require regulators to police a merged company's product decisions for years. Structural conditions do not. Stanley Woodward, associate attorney general, told Semafor the department would keep affordability for Americans as a priority. Affordability in television depends on whether independent programmers can still reach the screen.

The review widened after complaints from Chris Ruddy, who controls Newsmax and has long feuded with Fox over carriage of his streaming channels, Semafor reported in September. A rival's lobbying is a poor basis for antitrust policy. So is a promise to behave.

This story was first reported by Yahoo Finance Singapore.