Comcast in Deal With Juno

Comcast Cable Communications Inc. said it will offer Juno Online Services Inc.’s high-speed Internet access service over Comcast’s cable system. Comcast said trials of the service, called Juno Express, will start in 2001 in Philadelphia, where Comcast is based. New York-based Juno is the nation’s third-largest provider of dial-up Internet service. This agreement would make Juno the first nonaffiliated company to offer high-speed Internet access over the Comcast cable systems. Comcast is the third-largest U.S. cable provider after AT&T; Corp. and Time Warner Inc. Comcast has 8.3 million cable subscribers. Providing such access over cable lines is one of the central issues in U.S. regulators’ review of America Online Inc.’s pending $95-billion union with Time Warner Inc. Cable companies have been pressured to open their systems to rival Internet access providers. Separately, the Federal Trade Commission met in closed session for an update on AOL’s proposed purchase of Time Warner but took no action, sources said. The FTC held a wide-ranging discussion on the issues surrounding the merger, the sources said.