The American Cable Association took aim at Comcast's defense of its merger, saying it was engaged in a distraction campaign.

Comcast, in its replies to deal challengers, slammed programmer critics of its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable as extortionists and advocacy groups as chicken littles.

“Comcast acts as if an FCC merger review is a Lockean state of nature," Matthew Polka, president and CEO of the ACA, said, waxing politically philosophical, "a place where Comcast, by virtue of its power, gets to define what is and what isn’t a valid merger-specific criticism. If Comcast can get away with that, does the FCC’s public interest standard even exist?”

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