Comcast Roundup: Won’t tie rates to inflation, chasing BitTorrent users and More

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

Update: edited title, updated TV Everywhere link

DEFINITE READS

• The Washington Post reports that the FCC has begun a review of the “rules governing how broadcasters and pay television services negotiate transmission fees,” prompted by disputes surrounding the Comcast-NBC deal. The Post also reports that the FCC commissioner blasted Internet service providers, like Comcast, for raising prices (as the company did) as the agency has moved to provide more affordable Web access.
• The Inquirer’s Bob Fernandez reports that Comcast won’t tie their rates to inflation, a proposed condition to its merger with NBC. Fernandez also reports that Comcast founder Ralph Roberts celebrated his 90th birthday.
• Businessweek reports that Comcast and TimeWarner, among others, helped fight off a once prevalent trend toward free TV.

Below, how Comcast is chasing down some BitTorrent users, NBC executives learning Comcast culture and a dozen more stories.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

• New York venture capitalist Fred Wilson shares his experience on a panel discussing a national broadband plan.
• The Miami Herald reports on the likely end to the six-year-relationship between General Electric and Universal Orlando, with Comcast’s pending majority stake ownership. H/T PTN
• As we reported, popular Philadelphia sports blog The700level was purchased by Comcast SportsNet for an undisclosed sum.
• Broadband DSL Reports writes that Comcast, Tim Warner Cable and Cox are jointly funding a project that aims to increase the accuracy of finding BitTorrent users trading copyrighted files.  H/T Philly Tech News
• The New York Times Media Decoder blog reports that Comcast is absent from a large-scale campaign to change retransmission rules — they happen to be in the process of buying majority stake in a cable channel.
• Daily News gossip columnist Dan Gross reports that NBC executives were in town learning Comcast culture, not long after the debuting of a 30 Rock episode in which Alec Baldwin’s character lamented that a Philadelphia company purchasing a New York firm would be like “Vietnam defeating the United States in a ground war.”

GIVE A GLANCE

• Puck Daddy reports that Comcast’s sports channel Versus has returned to DirecTV after a months-long dispute.
• The Comcast corporate blog shares that the company will deliver the Masters golf tournament in 3D on TV and the Web.
• Multichannel reports that Comcast has added a DVR programming iPhone app.
• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that Comcast-Spectacor entered an advertising partnership with Colonial Marble and Granite of King of Prussia, resulting in very heavy billboards.

When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST.