Comcast has to convince the federal government to approve its purchase of Time Warner Cable (TWC), but so far the government advancing the most aggressive opposition may be in Lexington, Kentucky.

Kentucky's second-largest city is served by Time Warner Cable, and it isn't happy with the service. The city council "voted unanimously during a council work session Tuesday to put two resolutions denying transfer of ownership on the agenda for Thursday's council meeting," reported the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Comcast's purchase of Time Warner Cable includes a sale of certain territories to Charter. Charter would take over in Lexington after the deal.

Lexington's cable franchise agreement with TWC expired in 2012, but hasn't been renewed. Mayor Jim Gray says TWC has refused to address customer service complaints. The Herald-Leader reports:

"We have worked aggressively and vigorously to negotiate these terms with Time Warner," Gray said. "They have just not been reasonable. We are looking for better customer service and they are not willing to offer it. That's why the council took the action that it did today." Until changes are made that will help Lexington cable customers, Gray said, "They will not approve" the transfer of ownership.

A TWC spokesperson said the company "continues to work with the city of Lexington, and we hope to reach an agreement in the best interest of our customers," the paper reported.

Time Warner took over in Lexington early in 2012 after it purchased Insight Communications, which had been operating in Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. Customer service apparently got worse after the switch—city officials received "reams" of complaints about TWC, Vice Mayor Linda Gorton said, according to the Herald-Leader report. "It's everything from equipment, to service, to cost or the inability to understand how costs are set," she said.

A Comcast spokesperson declined to comment on Lexington, but said, "we already have the approval to go ahead in 89 percent of the LFAs [local franchise authorities] at issue in the transaction," about 5,800 in all.

"A scenario where Time Warner Cable continued existing but only in Lexington would be pretty funny, if unlikely," Senior Staff Attorney John Bergmayer of consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge told Ars. "I suppose the broader question is whether a single municipality by itself can stop this merger. Maybe not, but it’s unlikely that any one town would be acting alone. If I were Comcast or Time Warner, I’d be looking nervously at my other franchise agreements in towns around the country, and at the states. Taken together these actions could imperil the merger—and might give the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] and DoJ [Department of Justice] even more incentive to act."

The merger has also met skepticism in New York, where state regulators identified "deficiencies" in Comcast and TWC service and in the merger application.