Coalition to Challenge Cap Cities Deal : Television: Advocacy groups say Disney deal violates media cross-ownership rules. ABC says it complies with children’s programming requirements.

NEW YORK — A coalition of public interest and children’s advocacy groups is expected to file a petition before the Federal Communications Commission today challenging the proposed $19-billion sale of Capital Cities/ABC Inc. to Walt Disney Co., sources said.

The Center for Media Education, the United Church of Christ and other groups are expected to challenge the sale on the grounds it violates media cross-ownership rules and that ABC and Disney stations provide insufficient hours of educational children’s programming.

The groups declined to comment. But sources said they are seeking a commitment from Disney to provide an hour of educational programming per day on ABC once Disney acquires the network. A similar challenge by the same groups to the sale of CBS Inc. to Westinghouse Electric Corp. was withdrawn after Westinghouse announced earlier this week that it would increase the number of children’s hours on the network to three hours per week once it acquires CBS.

The children’s coalition had filed a petition before the FCC to deny Westinghouse the regulatory waivers it needed to complete the sale. The groups argued that CBS under-serves the needs of children and that the sale would decrease the diversity of sources of information available to the public.

A spokeswoman for Capital Cities/ABC said Wednesday that the company could not comment on the challenge until it was filed. But she added, “If this FCC petition is related to children’s programming, we think our stations fully comply with their obligations under the Children’s Television Act” to provide educational programming for children.

She said ABC currently offers two hours of children’s educational programming per week. CBS is providing one hour of such programming per week, according to Westinghouse.

The FCC is considering a proposal to require broadcasters to offer an hour of educational children’s programming a day. But broadcasters oppose mandated hours on First Amendment grounds and have lobbied heavily against it.

The Children’s Television Act of 1990 required broadcasters to serve the educational needs of children as part of their public interest obligations in exchange for use of the public airwaves.

It was unclear how big a role cross-ownership--the ownership of newspapers and TV stations or radio stations by one corporation in the same market--would play in the legal challenge being prepared.