Comcast Roundup: earnings down thanks to NBC

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.

DEFINITE READS

In its earnings report, Comcast says it saw a dip in second quarter revenues of 8.6 percent thanks to the rising costs of the Comcast NBC-U merger. The cable giant also said that it expected to gain more subscribers in June and July.

Outgrowing its gigantic skyscraper, Comcast has rented 43,000 square feet at the Bell Atlantic Tower. The company has the space until at least 2012 and is said to be looking for more space.

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Comcast Roundup: FCC broadband proposal on the move, Oprah in town and more

MUST READ

• The Washington Post reports that today the FCC begins its new strategy for regulating broadband, not long after losing its case for Comcast in a D.C. Circuit Court suggesting the agency doesn’t have the authority to enforce its net neutrality regulations.
• Daily News gossip columnist Dan Gross reports that Oprah Winfrey was at the Comcast Center in undisclosed talks.
• Broadcasting and Cable reports that there is still push back from some in Congress on the proposed advancement of ethnic programming by a merged Comcast-NBC Universal, seeking more diverse TV choices.

WORTH BROWSING

• Philly Tech News reports on Cablevision’s $1.3 billion purchase of cable system Bresnan, of which Comcast owns a third.
• Light Reading reports that Comcast may be preparing to deploy a technology called switched digital video. H/T Philly Tech News

GIVE A GLANCE

• Multichannel News reports that Comcast is moving forward with previously reported plans to shut down the London, Ontario office of interactive TV development firm TVWorks and consolidating work at Radnor, Pa. and Mill Valley, Calif. offices.
• Multichannel News reports that senior vice president and general manager of video and entertainment services Derek Harrar has stepped down.

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

Event Highlights for December 7 – December 13, 2009

Edited: Corrected time of BFTP.

Hope you weren’t trying to get any work done in these weeks before the holidays.

Our event calendar is as packed it has ever been, chock full of events for every kind of techie. Whether you want to brush up on your Python or throw down with your fellow new media heads, you have no excuse for driving straight home after work.

Start off the week at the home of our new Comcast overlords, taking in Chris Bartlett of Gay History Wiki, whom we’ve covered in the past, at this month’s Refresh Philly. Then, hold off until Thursday and take the day off to better familiarize yourself with Ben Franklin Technology Partners’ application process. When you are done plotting the next great Philadelphia business, head on over to PANMA’s holiday party to spend your future riches.

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Event Highlights for September 14-20, 2009

It’s a good week to be in Philadelphia. The Eagles and Phillies are winning, the weather is lovely and our calendar is chock full of events.

On weeks like these, picking the event highlights is like picking our favorite child. There’s something to attend every day of the week ranging from the 8Static chip party to Bloblive. But in the cage match that is TP’s event highlights, many events enter, only four can leave leave.

This week: Refresh Philly hosts representatives from GRID magazine (Full Disclosure: Brian James Kirk and Chris Wink have both written for GRID), Philly Build Guild reconvenes under its wide-open format, Philly Startup Leaders encourages entrepreneurial group therapy and Parking Day annexes local parking spaces.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more.

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City CIO’s $100 million Digital Philadelphia vision

PhillyCHI chair Dave Cooksey and human-computer interaction PhD holder Kellie Rae Carter open Refresh Philly session before city CIO Allan Frank takes the stage.

The Nutter administration will invest $100 million during the next four years in city technology, according to plans unveiled tonight by Philadelphia Chief Information Officer Allan Frank.

How they will is far less clear.

Frank unveiled his vision for a Digital Philadelphia Monday evening in front of a crowd of more than 75 members of the Refresh Philly design and developer community, as rain mist drifted past wall-length windows on the 45th floor of the Comcast Center.

The CIO hopes to employ a strategy that would procure federal broadband stimulus dollars to fund a longterm initiative overhauling the city’s technology infrastructure and its Phila.gov Web site.

“I basically want to blow the damn thing up,” he said to members as they clapped in support.

Frank said he’ll be open to input from the Philadelphia tech community leading up to a rough deadline to submit a proposal for federal stimulus dollars on August 15.

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Comcast Roundup: Comcast Center tallest U.S. LEED building and squabbles with Verizon

One particular company in our region garners more news coverage than any other by far: Comcast, of course.

It isn’t the region’s largest employer, nor is it even the biggest or most profitable. It just makes a lot more noise. While we cover some of it and hope to do more, a lot of that noise isn’t worth much more than a sentence or two. But much of it is worth following, and we bet many of you readers would like to, so we’re going to sort everything you need to know.

This is the Comcast Roundup, what may or may not become a regular department of ours (we don’t make promises we can’t keep, except to our illegitimate children).

• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the Comcast Center, the tallest building in Center City, has garnered another distinction — the tallest LEED-certified building in the country.

Read more on the company’s continued battles with Verizon, NFL Network, how Comcast might be defending your right to not pay more for heavy Internet use and more.

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