Public interest groups including Free Press are asking for a federal antitrust probe of the “TV Everywhere” initiative, worried that it will keep prices for programming high and make online video competition difficult, the Washington Post reports.

The groups will approach the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission today about the plan, in which cable, satellite and phone companies would distribute programming to computers and other devices belonging to subscribers to both television and high-speed Internet services. 

Comcast, which has been a leader in testing initiatives to allow cable and broadband subscribers to watch TV online, declined to comment, as did Time Warner Cable.

–Elizabeth Jensen