Critics Ask Conditions on Adelphia Bid

An unusual coalition of consumer groups and cable rivals on Wednesday asked federal regulators to place conditions upon any approval of Comcast and Time Warner's bid to buy the customers of the bankrupt cable operator Adelphia.

The group, calling itself the Competition and Diversity Coalition on the Adelphia Transaction, includes satellite operators EchoStar and DirecTV as well as frequent critics of big media such as the Center for Creative Voices in the Media and the Media Access Project.

The group wants federal regulators to forbid exclusive regional programming where Time Warner and Comcast dominate regional markets, and it wants recourse to challenge pricing and terms for programming that is affiliated with the cable operators, said Susan Eid, a DirecTV executive in Washington. She likened the potential conditions to those imposed when News Corp. purchased control of DirecTV.

After buying Adelphia's 5 million customers and dividing them, Comcast or Time Warner will have an increased portion of TV households in such cities as Washington, D.C., West Palm Beach, Fla., Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and Cleveland.

Comcast brushed aside the new group's objections.

"We have demonstrated the benefits of these transactions to the appropriate reviewing agencies and in the absence of legitimate objections, anticipate the timely completion of the approval process," said Comcast spokesman Tim Fitzpatrick. The company says former Adelphia customers will enjoy quicker rollout of high-speed Internet services, including telephone services.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission are reviewing the deal, which analysts generally expect will be approved.