Comcast and Charter Communications filed applications with the FCC for approval of Comcast’s divestiture of 3.9 million subscribers to Charter in connection with Comcast agreeing to pay about $66 billion for Time Warner Cable (http://bit.ly/1kNJ1Yp). As expected (CD April 29 p1), the deal will involve 2.5 million Comcast subscribers being transferred to a newly created Charter affiliated company known as SpinCo, 1.5 million subs going to Charter, and a swap of subscribers among the companies to allow geographic concentration. The filings made public Thursday include Comcast’s listing of the public interest benefits of the deal and SpinCo details. Since the delay will leave Comcast shareholders owning parts of all three companies, regulators could pay special attention to the viability and independence of the spinoff company, said James Stenger, a mergers and acquisitions attorney at Chadbourne & Parke.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Comcast stuck out as an atypical attendee at the Home Technology Specialists of America spring conference, which attracted some 210 vendors, dealers, press and industry association members. It’s the second appearance at a custom electronics event for Comcast, which attended CEDIA Expo last fall.

FCC options of scaling back program access rules drew no support from telcos, DBS providers and small cable operators, while operators that also own programming want the ban on exclusive deals for such content fully sunset. That’s according to initial comments on a rulemaking notice (CD March 22 p8). The document sought comment on whether to sunset the rules -- last extended for five years and expiring Oct. 5. Options the commission sought comment on other than keeping the rules or removing them in their entirety drew no support in docket 12-68. USTelecom and some others linked broadband service to keeping the rules, as cable rivals have in the past on video competition, saying subscription-video provider access to channels affiliated with operators helps them sell video and broadband.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and key FCC staff still have not decided whether to allow AT&T to withdraw its application to buy T-Mobile (CD Nov 28 p1), agency and industry officials said Monday. Genachowski would like to make the staff memo on the deal public, regardless of whether the application is allowed be withdrawn “without prejudice,” officials said. If the staff report is released, it could become part of an upcoming trial of the government’s case against the deal in U.S. District Court in Washington. Commissioners have yet to approve through electronic voting either an order sending the application to an administrative law judge for hearing or an order Genachowski circulated the same day approving AT&T’s buy of 700 MHz spectrum from Qualcomm (CD Nov 23 p1), officials said.

Cablevision’s spinoff of Madison Square Garden Inc. is complete, the cable operator said. That leaves Cablevision with “best in class cable assets and free cash flow generation,” Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker wrote investors. “While we think the possibility of consolidation at some point could be a long term catalyst for the company, as speculated in the media, we do not believe this is a near term opportunity.” Potential buyers such as Comcast are focused on other deals and returning cash to shareholders, she said, and founder Charles Dolan doesn’t appear to be interested in giving up his stake in the company he tried at least three times to take private.

Time Warner Cable converted about 5 percent of the over- the-air TV viewers in Wilmington, N.C., to new cable customers as a result of the Sept. 8 DTV switch there (CD Sept 19 p4), CEO Glenn Britt told a UBS conference in New York Monday.

Time Warner Cable converted about 5 percent of the over- the-air TV viewers in Wilmington, N.C., to new cable customers as a result of the Sept. 8 DTV switch there (CED Sept 19 p1), CEO Glenn Britt told a UBS conference in New York Monday.

State regulators in Me., N.H. and Vt. -- whose approval is needed for the $2.7 billion spinoff to FairPoint Communications of local Verizon landline operations in northern New England -- expect capital investment, service quality and rates to be major issues. FairPoint is known to regulators in those states as the 2nd-largest incumbent telco in Me., with 6 operating companies and 50,000 lines. It has a company with 5,000 lines in Vt. and one with 500 lines in N.H.

Time Warner executives were cagey in a Wed. earnings call with investors about how profitable newly acquired Adelphia cable systems will be this year and what the firm will have to spend upgrading the network to provide VoIP, broadband, VoD and other advanced services. The company updated its outlook for the year, saying it expects to convert 35%-45% of its adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization into free cash flow. Beyond that, executives declined to speculate on how the Adelphia takeover would affect the operations’ profit margins.

After a Q1 telecom “rally,” steady growth should continue in the upcoming quarter, experts said this week. Slow, rather than explosive, growth will characterize Q2, analysts said. They term the market in a renewal phase, though some cautioned investors might be overvaluing carriers’ worth and growth potential after several years of undervaluing them.