FCC Approves Adelphia Deal

FCC APPROVES ADELPHIA DEAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
As expected, the FCC Thursday approved -- by a 4-1 vote -- Comcast and Time Warner's $17.6 billion purchase of bankrupt Adelphia Communications, with the two dividing up the systems. Only Commissioner Michael Copps opposed the deal, although Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein dissented in part, saying the Commission should have imposed network neutrality conditions, a deficit that also troubled Copps. The merger, said the commission, serves the public interest, complies with all rules and statues and whatever public interest harms there might be are outweighed by public interest benefits, including principally system upgrades that will bring high speed voice and data, HDTV and video on demand to Adelphia's systems that are upgraded, and resolving the Adelphia bankruptcy. The key conditions the FCC did put on the merger had to do with regional sports networks. Comcast and Time Warner must put disputes over pricing or access to its regional sports networks (RSNs) to arbitration. The companies also cannot deny access to its sports networks to other multichannel programming providers, with, as expected, a carve-out for Philadelphia. The decision does close the terrestrial loophole for regional sports networks, which means that program access rules will now apply to landline-delivered RSNs. Previously, they only applied to satellite-delivered programming. "The conditions apply regardless of the means of delivery. Terrestrial means are included." The conditions on the merger sunset after six years.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6352882.html

* FCC Approves Adelphia Merger
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6352881.html?display=Breaking+News

* FCC Gives Approval To Adelphia Acquisition
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-CKVO1152820954647.html

* FCC Clears Adelphia Sale With Conditions
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060713/fcc_adelphia.html?.v=1

* FCC Clears Sale of Adelphia
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115281814985706009.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)

* Cable Giants Cleared to Buy Systems of Adelphia
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-adelphia14jul14,1,446...

* MORE ON THE ADELPHIA DECISION FROM THE FCC
News Release: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A1.doc
Fact Sheet: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A2.doc
Martin Statement: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A3.doc
Copps Statement: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A4.doc
Adelstein Statement: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A5.doc
Tate Statement: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A6.doc
McDowell Statement: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A7.doc

NATIONALS' CHANCES ON COMCAST GET A BOOST
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Arshad Mohammed and Thomas Heath]
Many Washingtonians are about to learn that their city has a baseball team. Federal regulators yesterday took a step that may help resolve a dispute that has kept Washington Nationals games off the region's largest cable network. The Federal Communications Commission gave the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, which carries most of the team's games, the right to demand arbitration as part of its efforts to get on the Comcast Corp. system. The action, part of the FCC's approval of a major acquisition by Comcast, does not guarantee that the 1.3 million Comcast subscribers in the Washington area will be able to see Nationals games, but it dramatically strengthens the hand of MASN.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR200607...
(requires registration)