Regulators Approve Disney Takeover Bid

Federal regulators cleared the way Thursday for The Walt Disney Co. to take over Capital Cities/ABC Inc., creating the world’s largest media company. But the company will have to shed some properties.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 5-0 to remove the last hurdle to the $19 billion deal.

The commission won’t let Disney permanently own, as it had requested, radio stations and a newspaper in Fort Worth, Texas, and in Pontiac-Detroit, Mich.

Instead, the commission would provide the company with a temporary waiver of one year from cross-ownership rules to give Disney time to sell or swap either the radio or the newspaper properties in each city.

Still, Disney might be able to keep the Fort Worth and Pontiac-Detroit properties. The FCC said it would re-examine its newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules within the year.

All five commissioners voted to clear the deal, but two opposed the FCC’s decision not to let Disney permanently own the properties in Fort Worth and Pontiac-Detroit.