Every Thursday morning, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup.

Ninety-four-year old Jessie Foyle probably wouldn’t get a personal patch into her beloved Phillies games from Comcast if not for old media, it might be fair to guess.

The “legendary” fan now lives in a city retirement home that has a subscription with DirecTV, which doesn’t send nearly as many televised games from the Phightins as the ‘Cast, but, as Inquirer columnist Dan Rubin wrote last week, Taylor got some special treatment after he wrote a column early this month about her dilemma.

Six residents and four guests showed up for the first showing against the Cubs, Rubin reported, after Comcast wired the home so they could get all the Phillies games.

“We made an exception with [her retirement home],” Jeff Alexander, a Comcast spokesman, told Rubin. “We took into consideration the fact that Mrs. Foyle is such a legendary fan and the property was quick to partner with us.”

Rubin, a newspaperman of the truest order and a Hell of a columnist to boot, brought the popcorn.

After the jump, more Comcast iPhone app buzz, ESPNU on board and eight more Comcast stories for the faithful.

In order of importance for your convenience.

• The New York Times reports that NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol is way peeved at the Olympic channel proposed by Comcast and the U.S.O.C.
• Inquirer business columnist Joey DiStefano reports on research from Wharton about the value of paid or free video content and puts a target on Comcast’s back. DiStefano, our partner in weekend shuffle board contests, also reports that Comcast is backing Sportsblogs.
• Cable360 has another, more in-depth review of the Comcast iPhone application that we reported on two weeks ago.
• The Wall Street Journal has a story on the second quarter from Time Warner and how its video monetization program with Comcast TV Everywhere fits.
• The Chattanoogan reports that college sports channel ESPNU has been added to Comcast’s Digital Classic level of service and ESPN360.com will join Comcast.net.
• A press release announces a contest hosted by a partnership between Comcast, LiveNation and national network Fuse that will send a winner to 20 concerts. Whatcha think about the second most villified company partnering with, as documented by an excellent Philly Weekly cover story, a corporation that could kill your concert-going?
• Smart Brief reports that two former high-level Democratic aides were hired as Comcast lobbyists.
• Broadband Info reports that Comcast is continuing its rollout of 4G networks in Atlanta.

When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there to fill your every Comcast desire or fantasy.

Every Thursday morning, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup.

We’re not quite done with this topic yet.

For two consecutive weeks, the biggest Comcast story has remained the same — it’s partnership with Time Warner to launch an online TV video streaming service that requires cable subscription authentication.

Major challenges remain in designing that authentication system, reports the Los Angeles Times. While broadcast networks like NBC have been quick to put their content online for free, cable providers, like Comcast, are eager to create a source of revenue online.

The L.A. Times also reports that the initiative, dubbed TV Everywhere, is proposed to include regular commercials, like broadcast TV, despite the trend online for fewer, shorter video advertisements. (Watch the CEOs of Comcast and Time Warner speak on the proposal after the jump.)

If you’re thinking of the online TV limit, think 500 hours, as Multichannel News reports. Web video watched through TV Everywhere will count toward the overall 250-gigabyte per month usage limit, which Comcast instituted last fall.

“According to my calculations, 250 Gbytes is enough for some 496 hours of high-quality video streaming, or the equivalent of 20 days of around-the-clock online-video watching,” wrote Todd Spangler.

While some executives have brushed the concern aside, the question of antitrust implications for the Comcast and Time Warner Internet-video collusion is real, Gigaom reports.

After the jump, keeping baseball from a 94-year-old fan, Comcast and Time Warner heads speak, and four other Comcast stories for the faithful.

In order of importance for your ease:

• Inquirer columnist Danny Rubin finds and reports on 94-year-old Jessie Foyle, a Phillies fan to the extreme who struggles to listen to the baseball team’s games on a transistor radio because her retirement home has DirecTV. Comcast owns rights to most of the Phillies games and, Rubin suggests, they ain’t sharing.
• Comcast became the first major cable TV company to release wireless broadband beyond of Wi-Fi hotspots when it launched the service in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday. Services in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and others are planned to follow by the end of 2009. This follows the company’s November 2008 investment in Clearwire.
• The Inqy’s Bob Fernandez profiles the work of Comcast Interactive Media, the company’s 800-employee Internet division. It includes ping pong and the department’s relationship to its cable TV operations.
• TV Squad suggests that a Comcast advertisement attacking Verizon’s FiOS TV has been changed.
• A press release announcing that Comcast is now the third largest residential phone services provider.
• Comcast Voices has a video interview with Brian Roberts and Jeff Bewkes, CEOs of Comcast and Time Warner respectively, about their company’s partnership on TV Everywhere, as announced last week.

When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there to fill your every Comcast desire or fantasy.