“The significance of this extortion lies in not just the sheer audacity of some of the demands, but also the fact that each of the entities making the ‘ask’ has all but conceded that if its individual business interests are met, then it has no concern whatsoever about the state of the industry, supposed market power going forward, or harm to consumers, competitors or new entrants,” Comcast said in the filing.

Comcast argued that acquiring Time Warner Cable would improve video and broadband services for millions of additional customers and also give it added scale to upgrade its networks, improve its technology and better compete against a lineup of global media and technology companies.

Some analysts said that Comcast’s accusations of extortion were not likely to sway regulators’ assessment of the deal.

“Regulators are a sophisticated audience,” said Craig Moffett, a media analyst with MoffettNathanson Research. “They can assess the merits of the various arguments without having to be coached on what incentives might be behind why someone did or didn’t say what they did.”

Despite the strong language from Comcast, most media and technology companies that previously have spoken out against the deal did not pull their punches.

Comcast had accused Netflix of trying to shift its own costs to other companies. Netflix said on Wednesday that the merger was “clearly not ‘great’ for consumers” because of Comcast’s increased control over the market for high-speed residential Internet access. The company noted that it had “grudgingly” paid Comcast for better performance, a “precedent that remains damaging for consumers (who ultimately pay higher costs) and for other innovative businesses (that can be held over the barrel by Comcast to do the same).”

“It is not extortion to demand that Comcast provide its own customers the broadband speeds they’ve paid for so they can enjoy Netflix,” Jonathan Friedland, a Netflix spokesman, said in a statement. “It is extortion when Comcast fails to provide its own customers the broadband speed they’ve paid for unless Netflix also pays a ransom.”