The New York Public Service Commission (PSC) should...

a letter posted Monday. The two senators and 13 assembly members said they believe the companies have underserved the Jewish community because they provide The Jewish Channel, a New York-based Jewish news and public affairs cable channel, only on an a la carte basis. Comcast/TWC would represent “at least 75 percent of Jewish households, and perhaps as many as 90 percent or more” in the U.S., the legislators said. “We are concerned that allowing a single cable television provider to represent so much of the Jewish community would allow it to be unresponsive to the community’s needs, as it would face little competition from other providers” (http://bit.ly/10f2YVZ). A Comcast spokeswoman disputed the legislators’ claims, noting in part that post-merger “we'll reach a much smaller percentage of Jewish homes across the country than DirecTV or Dish do -- they reach almost 100 percent of Jewish homes.” The companies agreed to let the PSC delay its ruling on Comcast/TWC until the commission’s Nov. 13 meeting. The PSC will issue a final order based on that ruling by Nov. 19 under that agreement, Comcast and TWC said Friday (http://bit.ly/1uW4GV6). The PSC launched its review of Comcast/TWC in May and had originally anticipated it would take about four months to complete. The PSC review is being viewed as more stringent than most states’ reviews and is seen more likely to produce stronger public interest conditions (WID Aug 14 p2).