Comcast and Time Warner are planning to submit only a joint bid for all of Adelphia's cable assets after ruling out separate bids for other parts of the company's network.

Bids for Adelphia the fifth-largest US cable company, which collapsed into bankruptcy in one of America's biggest corporate scandals are due next Monday. Creditors have set a minimum price tag of $17.5bn, making its sale potentially one of the biggest transactions to take place this quarter. People who are familiar with the auction indicated that Comcast and Time Warner concluded recently that it would not make sense for them to make separate bids for parts of Adelphia's assets, as this could undermine their chances of winning the whole company.