U.S. court stays FCC order to disclose TV programming contracts

(Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court has stayed the Federal Communications Commission's order requiring broadcast and cable companies to disclose programming contracts. The FCC had asked media companies to disclose their contracts with pay-TV providers as it reviewed AT&T Inc's acquisition of DirecTV and Comcast Corp's merger with Time Warner Cable Inc. Media companies including Time Warner, Walt Disney Co and CBS Corp had approached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, saying the FCC's order would cause "irreparable harm" to their business. The court said the merger proceedings and the FCC review can continue as the regulator has access to all the materials. "The stay order deals with a procedural matter that has never had anything to do with the substance of our transaction," Comcast Vice President of Government Communications, Sena Fitzmaurice, said. As the court stated, the Commission can continue its review of the transactions while the stay is in effect, Fitzmaurice said. The case is In Re: Emergency Motion For Stay Pending Judicial Review, U.S. Court Of Appeals For The District Of Columbia Circuit, No. USCA Case #14-1242 (Reporting By Subrat Patnaik in Bangalore and Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Don Sebastian)