South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it has granted conditional approval for a deal by KT Skylife Co. to buy cable TV operator Hyundai HCN Co. on concerns that the takeover could partially hamper market competition.

In October last year, KT Skylife Co., a satellite broadcasting affiliate of local telecom giant KT Corp., signed a deal to acquire Hyundai HCN Co.'s broadcasting business for 491.1 billion won ($420 million).

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said it has given the green light for the deal to go forward on the condition that KT Skylife should take corrective steps to ease concerns about competition restrictions in the digital and paid TV markets.

Under restrictive measures to be applied until December 2024, KT Skylife will be banned from hiking cable TV subscription fees beyond the inflation rate and arbitrarily changing the number of channels. If the company changes those conditions, it should report details to the KFTC within 14 days.

The commission said the company will be allowed to ask the regulator to review such measures one year after its completion of the takeover. (Yonhap)