Ken Feree, chief of the Federal Communications Commission's media bureau, said the agency will be requesting more documents. He also said he wants to conduct further consultation with lawyers from the antitrust division of the Justice Department.

Richard Dore, spokesman for DirecTV parent Hughes Electronics, said the company remained optimistic the deal would clear regulatory hurdles by late 2003 or early 2004.

Under US law, the FCC is encouraged to finish its review of merger proposals within 180 days, although the agency is not required to do so. The review was in its 149th day. Feree said he will restart the 180-day countdown from scratch after he receives the additional documents.

The delay comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of the agency, which voted in June to loosen media-ownership rules. An effort is underway in Congress to overturn the controversial 3-2 vote amid concerns about big companies gobbling up too many media properties.

Many opponents of the new media rules also oppose the effort by News Corp. to acquire the largest US satellite TV carrier.

The deal must be approved by both the FCC and the Justice Department.

Dore said Hughes is "still cautiously optmistic" the deal can be completed in the coming months.

"We had set a time frame toward the end of this year or early 2004," he said.

News Corp., a sprawling media-entertainment conglomerate, struck a 6.6 billion dollar deal in April for a 34 percent stake in Hughes Electronics to gain control of DirecTV and include it as part of Murdoch's global media-entertainment empire.

Regulators previously blocked a DirecTV merger with rival EchoStar on antitrust grounds.

SPACE.WIRE