Stevens, Dorgan Seek Adelphia Conditions

By Ted Hearn
Multichannel News
4/5/2006 5:50 PM

Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) asked the Federal Communications Commission to consider imposing programming conditions on the sale of Adelphia Communications Corp. to Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp., informed sources said Wednesday.

In an April 4 letter to the FCC co-signed by Sen. Bryon Dorgan (D-N.D.), Stevens took the side of DirecTV Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp. that Comcast and Time Warner would have the market power to control access to and the price of widely popular regional sports networks, perhaps giving the MSOs too much leverage over pay TV competitors.

We are greatly concerned about a merger of such scope and believe you should act carefully before approving such a merger, the lawmakers said.

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