NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - EchoStar Communications has tentatively agreed to transfer dozens of communications frequencies and three satellites to Cablevision in a bid to salvage Echostar's embattled merger plans, the New York Times reported on Monday in its online edition.
Citing people close to the companies, the Times reported that EchoStar and Cablevision had presented the plan to antitrust officials at the Justice Department in an effort to save EchoStar's proposed acquisition of Hughes Electronics .
Spokesmen for EchoStar and Cablevision were not immediately available for comment.
EchoStar has been struggling to gain approval for its $25.8 billion bid to acquire Hughes, a division of General Motors , which includes DirecTV, the No. 1 satellite television provider, the paper said.
The Times said the Justice Department has been in opposition to the deal because it would combine the nation's two largest providers of satellite TV service. EchoStar is the second-largest satellite television provider.
Cablevision, a cable-television company that is making a push into the satellite business, could receive the frequencies for free, The New York Times said.
Under the deal with EchoStar, Cablevision would receive the rights to use 51 satellite frequencies now controlled by EchoStar. It would also buy EchoStar's EchoStar 3 satellite and lease its EchoStar 1 and EchoStar 2 satellites, according to people close to the negotiations, the newspaper said.
The Times said the deal by Cablevision and EchoStar was contingent upon EchoStar's completing its acquisition of Hughes, which requires approval from both the Justice Department and the F.C.C.