Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) continues to conduct due diligence on cable operator Adelphia Communications Inc. and will decide sometime this week whether to raise its $16.5 billion bid for Adelphia, a person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

Cablevision was an 11th-hour entrant in the long-running auction for Adelphia and still is considered a long shot because Adelphia agreed last week to an alternative roughly $18 billion deal with Time Warner Inc. (TWX) and Comcast Corp. (CMCSK).

Should that acquisition go through, the stage would be set for another major redrawing of the national cable-television map in the U.S., affecting millions of consumers. If the deal is finalized, the two giants would divvy up Adelphia's 5.2 million subscribers, choosing systems that are in the same geographic region as ones they already own.

Time Warner and Comcast are far from sealing the deal. The transaction for Adelphia, which has been operating under bankruptcy-court protection since 2002, still must be approved by its board, creditors and bankruptcy judge. And the two companies still could be outbid by Cablevision.

Wall Street Journal Staff Reporters Peter Grant and Dennis K. Berman contributed to this report. Dow Jones Newswires 04-11-05 0021ET Copyright (C) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.