A trade group for small cable operators had harsh words last Thursday for News Corp.’s effort to escape Federal Communications Commission competitive conditions imposed in late 2003, when the company acquired nearly 40% of DirecTV.

In a filing at the FCC, the American Cable Association accused News Corp of “lack of candor and manipulation of [FCC] processes” because News Corp. didn’t seek relief until after the FCC approved the transfer of News Corp.’s DirecTV stake to Liberty Media Corp.

ACA called News Corp.’s timing “an obvious campaign to suppress scrutiny of an issue of decisional significance.”

To read the article, click here [1].