Black employees in Chicago accuse Comcast of discrimination [Roundup]

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 email subscription for our weekly Comcast roundup or other news updates.

• Comcast Tangled in Discrimination Suit [BET] — “Several of the company’s black employees in Chicago say that they were required to install defective and insect-infested equipment in customers’ homes. ” More from the Chicago Tribune here. Officially, the company denies the allegations.
• Key NBC executive Marc Graboff to leave the network [Company Town: LA Times] — “Marc Graboff, president of NBC’s West Coast business operations and the TV network’s longtime consigliere, is leaving the company” after diminishing role, following Comcast’s takeover.
• Q&A: How Comcast is adjusting to our changing TV habits [GeekWire] — “Interview with Tom Blaxland, senior director of product management for Comcast Interactive Media” says Philly Tech News
• Comcast gives CFO Angelakis new contract, title [Philadelphia Business Journal] — “Michael J. Angelakis that promotes him from executive vice president and chief financial officer to vice chairman and CFO.”

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How Comcast is bringing ‘the death of the land line:’ Roundup

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 subscri ption for our Comcast news updates.

• FCC’s Meredith Baker goes on the defensive [Post Tech: Washington Post] — “Federal Communications commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker defended her decision to join Comcast NBC Universal just months after voting in favor of the company’s joint venture.”
• The Fastest Growing Industry in the Country? It’s Digital Voice [The Atlantic] — Comcast is leading the charge with ‘cable VoIP,’ which, with ‘peer-to-peer’ like Skype and ‘virtual VoIP’ like Vonage, is marking ‘the death of the land line.”
• Hulu, Networks Close To New Deal [Media Memo: All Things Digital] — “Hulu and its network TV owners are close to a new deal that will keep programs from NBC, Fox and ABC on the Web video site.”
• Ron Meyer offered contract extension as head of Universal Studios [Company Town: LA Times] — “Comcast Corp. has made an offer to renew the contract of longtime Universal Studios chief Ron Meyer “
• Comcast Donates $250K To Alabama Charities For Tornado Relief [Multichannel News] — “MSO Contributes to Governor’s Relief Fund, Local and National Red Cross”
• Comcast OK’s its proposals, nixes those of shareholders [Philadelphia Business Journal] — Including shareholder nominees to board of directors

Shop Talk: School District of Philadelphia launches probe into its computer recycling program

Refurbished computers in a technology recycling warehouse in Fairmount.

How at least one School District of Philadelphia computer monitor ended up in a massive e-waste landfill in Ghana remains unclear.

But, after a PBS Frontline documentary camera spotted the hardware and Technically Philly made repeated followup inquiries, the district has announced it will launch an investigation, according to a written statement given by district spokesman Fernando Gallard.

“The School District of Philadelphia does not encourage or condone the illegal dumping of any school district property anywhere in the world,” read the statement, given first to Technically Philly. “As a result… [we are] currently investigating the source and disposal record of the equipment found in Ghana.”

The computer monitor, which had a district sticker on it, was just a brief moment in the explosive PBS Frontline report on e-waste that was released last month. Likewise, the monitor is just a small part of the hundreds of millions of tons of e-waste that flood the West African country and other developing nations each year.

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