Comcast said in a response to the Federal Communications Commission that the opponents' "empty assertions plainly afford no basis for further delaying the merger review process."
FCC approval is one of the final hurdles for the deal, which could close as early as next week after an exchange of $11.8 billion in AT&T bonds for AT&T Comcast notes is completed. The bond exchange is part of the transfer of $20 billion worth of debt from AT&T to the new company.
The proposed $47.5 billion merger would create a new company, AT&T Comcast, with 22.3 million subscribers -- nearly twice as many as the largest current cable company, AOL Time Warner Inc.
On Wednesday, the FCC refused to require disclosure of a confidential agreement that the merging companies reached in August with AOL Time Warner.
The Consumer Federation of America and EarthLink, an Internet service provider, had argued that the deal forced AOL to make costly concessions to get its online service carried on AT&T Comcast systems.
The FCC said it was doubtful that disclosure would show that AT&T Comcast's market power was a primary factor in reaching the agreement. However, one commissioner, Michael Copps, dissented, saying public interest concerns outweighed the cable companies' claims of confidentiality.
On Friday, the consumer federation, the Center for Digital Democracy, the Media Access Project and Consumers Union asked the FCC to suspend consideration of the merger while they challenged Wednesday's ruling in federal appeals court.
"What we are seeing here is the evidence of the extraordinary power that this company will have," said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.
Andrew Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project, said creation of such a large cable company would reduce competition, resulting in higher rates, less diverse programming and fewer choices of high-speed Internet service providers available via cable.
Comcast and AT&T Broadband argued in a response to the FCC that the results would be "decidedly to the contrary," and that the companies "have repeatedly stated on the record that they have not and will not restrict their subscribers from accessing any content available on the Internet."
FCC officials wouldn't comment Friday.
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