FTC OK's Adelphia Deal

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Trade Commission Tuesday approved the approximately $12.7 billion purchase of bankrupt Adelphia by Time Warner and Comcast without any conditions attached. The two companies plan to split Adelphia’s 5.2 million subscribers between them and to swap some of their own existing subscribers between each other. Even so, the FTC said its investigation "does not suggest that the proposed transactions are likely to substantially lessen competition in any geographic region of the U.S." The FTC said it was not persuaded that the deal would harm consumers by affecting the terms of contracts for regional sports networks, as some deal critics have argued. But two of the five commissioners dissented in part, saying they thought the new companies could tie up sports programming contracts to the detriment of consumers. They said they would have preferred conditions insuring that did not happen, but did not oppose the merger. The FCC is still reviewing the merger.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6303706?display=Breaking+News...
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* FTC Approves Sale of Adelphia...With Reservations
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10019...