U.S. regulators may change a rule that cable companies such as Comcast Corp. rely upon to withhold telecasts of professional sports from competitors, a person familiar with the matter said. Federal Communications Commission staff will send a recommendation Wednesday to the agency's five members to revise the rule, said a commission official, who asked not to be identified because the matter hasn't been made public. Under the proposed change, FCC rules would treat equally programs sent through satellite links, which includes most cable-TV content, and those distributed entirely over wires, a technique used by some cable-owned regional sports networks. Networks that use only wires, such as Comcast SportsNet, would no longer be exempt from rules requiring fair access for competitors, the official said. Disputes over sports programming have flared as telephone companies, which increasingly offer television service, and satellite-TV providers sought access to cable-owned regional sports networks that control coverage rights. Sena Fitzmaurice, a Comcast spokeswoman, declined to comment. Philadelphia-based Comcast is the largest U.S. cable- television operator. 'Consumers shouldn't be forced to stick with their incumbent cable provider in order to have access to their local teams' games, or to watch those games in high definition,' David Fish, a spokesman for New York-based Verizon Communications Inc., said today in an e-mailed statement. Comcast withholds its SportsNet channels in Philadelphia from satellite competitors DirecTV Group Inc. and Dish Network Corp. Under the proposed rule change, the satellite-TV providers could seek access to that professional sports programming by filing complaints with the FCC. Other battles over cable-owned sports networks include AT&T Inc.'s 2008 complaint that Cox Communications Inc. withholds some San Diego Padres baseball games. The FCC rejected AT&T's complaint in March. AT&T dropped a 2007 complaint against Cablevision Systems Corp. after the New York-based cable-TV provider agreed to let AT&T air New York Knicks basketball games and other sports programs in Connecticut. Verizon withdrew a similar complaint against Cablevision in 2006 after the companies reached an agreement. Comcast agreed this month to form a $37 billion joint venture combining General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal with its own media assets, strengthening a push into programming. It will ask regulators to approve the deal. 