According to Bloomberg, Verizon's bid to buy $3.9 billion worth of spectrum from the Comcast / Time Warner / Bright House partnership known as SpectrumCo will face increased antitrust scrutiny from the DOJ. It's not necessarily surprising news, as spectrum transactions are always subject to regulatory approval and Verizon just filed with the FCC for approval today, but the deal effectively eliminates the cable companies from the field of wireless competition, and the FCC and DOJ made it clear throughout their successful opposition to the AT&T / T-Mobile merger that they take wireless competition extremely seriously. What's more, the deal also allows Verizon to stall FiOS development and offer cable services from its new partners instead, reducing competition in the all-but-stagnant wireline market as well. We'll see what the FCC and DOJ say; stay tuned.

BREAKING: Verizon said to be probed by U.S. over cable spectrum deals

— Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) December 20, 2011