Comcast Acquisition Plan Focus of Antitrust Probe

Comcast Corp.’s acquisition of a cable sports network is the focus of an antitrust investigation by the Justice Department, according to court papers filed by rival Cablevision Systems Corp.

Cablevision, the New York City area’s top cable TV provider, said in court papers that the department’s antitrust division has requested any documents it has that could shed light on Comcast’s pending acquisition of the Home Team Sports regional programming service from Viacom Inc. HTS serves the Baltimore and Washington area. Philadelphia-based Comcast is the third-largest U.S. cable television provider.

The Justice Department also requested a wide range of other documents from Cablevision pertaining to its operations, the papers said.

Cablevision “has been asked to provide far-ranging, confidential information regarding its cable television operations in the New York and Boston metropolitan areas and regarding its seven regional sports programming services,” the papers said.

Cablevision said it has negotiated with the Justice Department to limit the scope of the Oct. 6 request, known as a civil investigative demand. Department officials told Cablevision they want to study “vertical integration between cable television operations and regional sports programming services,” the papers said.

In its court papers, Cablevision said it has concluded that federal authorities are engaged in “a broad-ranging investigation of the industry, rather than a focused investigation” of the Comcast acquisition.

On Dec. 8, Cablevision asked U.S. District Judge Richard Owen in Manhattan to set aside the civil investigative demand.

Cablevision spokesman Charles Schueler declined to comment. A Comcast spokeswoman said the company would not comment. And a Justice Department representative did not return a phone call.