Institutional money manager Chieftain Capital Management has sent a letter (pdf) to Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) urging the ouster of CEO Brian Roberts. The fund, which owns about 1.9 percent of the company, calls Roberts’ tenure a “Comcastrophe.” It’s also demanding that the company scrap its dual-voting structure, which it claims gives the Roberts family control of the company at the expense of shareholders owning 99 percent of the firm.

According to the fund’s SEC filings, Chieftain first took a stake in Comcast in mid-2002, around the time the company was trading at post-bubble lows. Since then, the fund has been steadily upping its stake each quarter or so, but the stock has now taken a round trip. After rising off of its lows, Comcast isn’t much higher now than when the fund first bought in. In fact, as the letter notes, the stock is now trading back where it was in 1998. Among its other complaints: Comcast’s late entry into digital voice, the $80 billion spent on acquisitions over the past decade and its bid for Disney (NYSE: DIS), which in Chieftain’s view, destroyed shareholders’ confidence in management.

In addition to the demands about Roberts and the voting structure, the company wants to see stricter fiscal discipline, changes to executive compensation and more money returned to shareholders in the form of buybacks or dividends. These are all complaints that other shareholders have voiced before. During CFO Michael Angelakis’ presentation at Citi’s media conference, he faced questions about the company’s acquisitive ways and its lack of a dividend.

Shareholders frequently demand that companies return more cash in dividends in buybacks, but they don’t always make sense long term. As Pali’s Rich Greenfield argues in response (reg req’d), Comcast is currently in a “war” with telecom and satellite rivals, meaning it needs to spend heavily to compete—not lever up by handing more cash to shareholders.

Update: During a CNBC appearance, Chieftain Capital head Glenn Greenberg disputed the suggestion that Comcast needs to spend heavily to compete, because the company is an incumbent with its infrastructure already in the ground. His key argument: Comcast is fundamentally a good business, but it’s squandered its money on acquisitions that haven’t delivered value to shareholders. As for how it hopes to get changes, when the family is in control, Chieftain has done a survey of other investors confirming its sentiment is shared, and it’s hoping the board will pay attention to it.

• Citi Media: Michael Angelakis, CFO, Comcast; Bad Debt And Churn Climbing