Comcast, the biggest cable company, looks to get bigger

Comcast is by far the biggest pay-TV provider in the San Francisco Bay Area. It controls TV rights to Giants, A's, Sharks and Warriors games. Many of its customers also sign up for high-speed Internet service. And the company, if it has its way, is about to get a whole lot bigger.

In a deal valued at $30 billion that was announced a year ago but has received scant attention outside the nation's capital, Comcast is attempting to buy a majority share of NBC Universal. The merger would give the nation's largest cable company control of a vast array of programming, in addition to the pipes that deliver it. And that powerful combination is prompting warnings that the company could use its newfound leverage to muscle out competitors like DirecTV and Dish Network, stifle the nascent market for TV over the Web and, over time, raise prices for subscribers with near impunity. Federal regulators appear to be taking those issues seriously. While the deal is expected to win approval by the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission within weeks or months, regulators are weighing a range of options to prevent Comcast from abusing its expanded market power.