• Ad Age, Friday, July 14, 2006 12:15 PM

The Federal Communications Commission has approved the Comcast and Time Warner purchase of the assets of Adelphia Communications for $17.6 billion today, after imposing broad limits on cable companies signing exclusive deals with regional sports networks, Ad Age reports. The 4-to-1 vote -- with only Democratic commissioner Michael Copps dissenting -- approved the deal that will lead to Adelphia, the country's sixth-largest cable provider, merging with two larger competitors and further concentrating the cable industry. Adelphia has been in bankruptcy since 2002. With the deal and related market swaps, Time Warner gains presence in Los Angeles, Dallas and Cleveland, while Comcast gets a bigger presence in Miami, Northern Virginia, Boston, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh. "This decision is about big media getting bigger with consumers left holding the bag," says Copps. "It comes with too heavy a price tag. My advice to consumers is: hold on to your pocketbook."

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