The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yesterday unveiled its review teams that will examine the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV mergers—and there are some interesting appointments.

William Rogerson, a professor and chair of the Department of Economics at Northwestern University, will be the senior economist dealing with both the proposed Comcast/TWC and AT&T/DirecTV mergers. Rogerson, who was also the FCC's chief economist in 1998 and 1999, warned in 2010 that Comcast's purchase of NBC "will cause significant competitive harms." That merger was approved anyway, with some conditions.

The FCC assembled separate working teams for each new transaction. US Department of Justice attorney Hillary Burchuk will lead the team reviewing the Comcast/TWC merger, which would also shift some subscribers to Charter. In 2011, Burchuk was one of several attorneys representing the DOJ in a lawsuit that ultimately blocked AT&T's planned purchase of T-Mobile US.

Former DOJ antitrust lawyer Jamillia Ferris will lead the working team reviewing the proposed AT&T/DirecTV merger and will also join the FCC's Office of General Counsel. Ferris was at the DOJ when it blocked the AT&T/T-Mobile merger but wasn't among the DOJ attorneys who handled the lawsuit.

FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet will chair a steering committee that will oversee both the Comcast/TWC and AT&T/DirecTV transactions. Sallet previously was chief policy counsel for MCI WorldCom and an official at the Department of Commerce.

Sallet spoke about the FCC's approach to mergers in March, saying, "I am aware of the reputation that some attribute to the FCC, that the answer is always 'yes' and the path to 'yes' is bargaining with the agency. It is hard to imagine that such a view can be squared with the manner in which the commission assiduously applied the law to the facts of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile transaction," according to the site Broadcasting & Cable. The FCC's opposition to AT&T/T-Mobile, in addition to the DOJ objections, helped doom that deal.

Sallet also spoke favorably of conditions the FCC has imposed on mergers such as Comcast/NBC. "Our conditions and divestitures on mergers like Comcast/NBC allow us to remedy potential anticompetitive harms that DOJ would have difficulty addressing," he said.