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

• The Wall Street Journal’s Deal Journal blog shares portions of a transcript of NBC head Jeff Zucker talking to Charlie Rose about, among other things, the Comcast deal. H/T Philly Tech News
• BusinessWeek has a piece calling the “Conan and Leno saga” NBC chief Jeff Zucker’s “eventual undoing, even if it takes Comcast to come in and pull the plug.
• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that Comcast has announced it will send $1 million in cash and in-kind support for disaster relief efforts in Haiti.

After the jump, Fancast Xfinity expanded again, why Comcast has to write down their promises now and a dozen more stories.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

• The Washington Post reports that on Feb. 4 the Senate Antitrust subcommittee plans to hold a hearing Feb. 4 on Comcast and NBC Universal’s proposed $30 billion merger.
• Newser has an opinion piece suggesting Conan O’Brien is ‘giving up’ instead of exacting ‘revenge’ by was of the midnight time slot he was offered. The piece’s author Michael Wolff also minces no words in suggesting that the Late Night shake up was a direct result of the Comcast-NBC deal.
• Cable Digital News reports that Comcast is preparing to expand access to its Fancast Xfinity TV online video service — first unveiled in December — to its cable customers who receive internet access from a competitor.
• The Hillicon Valley blog reports that California Congressman Darrell Issa said he thinks the Comcast deal will go through. H/T PTN
• The New York Times Bucks blog tells the tale of why you can now get written confirmation of deals you make with Comcast phone representatives.
• Multichannel News reports that Comcast has pledged that the company “does not and will not foreclose consumer access to any online Internet content for anti-competitive purposes.”
• PBJ also reports that the FCC has decided Comcast must make SportsNet available to satellite TV providers.

GIVE A GLANCE

• ars technica reports that Comcast wants ‘clear rules’ even if that means net neutrality. H/T PTN
• Comcast has announced a partnership that will offer Norton Security at no additional cost to its high speed internet customers, replacing, as PC Magazine reported, its deal with McAffee.
• DSL Reports says Comcast is expanding the availability of its bandwidth usage meter beta, which was piloted in Portland, Oregon, into the Pacific Northwest.

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

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

• Knowledge @ Wharton investigates the ‘marriage of cable and content,’ with the Comcast-NBC merger.
• The New York Times reports that Comcast has unveiled its Fancast Xfinity TV for subscribers, its take on TV Everywhere. Wall Street Journal gives its take here.
• Politico reports on Comcast’s sophisticated lobbying arm that helped the merger happen.

After the jump, could the NBC merger mean more office space, why Comcast is so un-Philadelphian and eight more stories you need to see.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

• AdAge runs a memo to Comcast on ‘how to fix NBC.’
• The Inquirer’s Mike Armstrong reports on why Comcast being big, bold and fierce makes it a decidedly un-Philadelphia corporate citizen.
• Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the Comcast-NBC merger could mean more regional jobs (even if a net loss) and a need for more office space.
• Media Daily News reports that NBC Universal will lose an estimated $200 million on February’s Winter Olympics.
• Hollywood Reporter reports that CNBC is in its fourth year of profit growth and is tinkled pink about the possible purchase by Comcast.

GIVE A GLANCE

• The New York Observer reports that the Comcast purchase just might change the NBC summer scene from the Hamptons to the Jersey Shore. H/T Philly Tech News
• Illadelph reports on why Comcast’s taking on NBC just might mean better liklihood for a season of Top Chef being taped in Philadelphia.
• Multichannel News reports that Comcast isn’t leaving its broadcast core business.
• Bloomberg reports that Comcast’s buying NBC means the broadcast network’s competitors will seek $1 billion or more in retransmission fees and Comcast will likely not fight much so as not to seem anti-competitive.
• paidContent reports that DailyCandy, the Comcast-owned e-mail newsletter, is halting city-specific daily updates in 12 cities, including Philadelphia.
• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that Comcast-Spectacor and Comcast SportsNet are partnering with ABC Regional Sports & Entertainment Sales to connect with more national advertisers.

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

Every Thursday morning, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription to our Comcast news updates.

Net neutrality and Comcast’s role in that debate’s recent-most incarnation dominated mentions of the telecommunications giant this week.

The Federal Communications Commission will keep Comcast and others from limiting user Web traffic, according to sources of the Washington Post, which owned the coverage and suspected that decision as early as last week.

But the FCC’s call that they have the authority to rule that ISPs like Comcast cannot create user limitations is muddy, considering other recent actions from the bipartisan governing body, as Wired magazine reported. The pushback came from Comcast, by way of an open-letter written by company executive vice president David L. Cohen, as reported by the Inquirer.

CNet reported on growing House support for a net neutrality bill. MacWorld talked on just how quickly you could breeze through Comcast’s monthly 250-gb limit (H/T Philly Tech News).

We’ve said before that you know the Comcast story is big when Joey Sweeney gets in on it.

After the jump, Comcast raises prices “because it can,” Hulu trades business ideas and seven other Comcast news items for your perusing.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

• Adage reports that Comcast is rolling out Fancast commercials that seem to headed straight for Hulu’s market: online-streaming TV. And in a complete reversal, Hulu seems to trying Comcast’s angle, by beta-testing a subscription model, according to Business Insider.
• Multichannel News goes deeper into Comcast’s proposed subscription-based TV Everywhere schema, noting that while it intends to be the first big jump into bringing online viewers into paying for a core business, it hasn’t solved the question of which element of the cable industry really owns access to those viewers.
• The Inquirer’s Joey DiStefano reports that Comcast and Sunoco are among the 25 largest companies that could be acquired because of high cash yield and low debt holdings, according to one of these reports that are released to much fanfare and no actual action.
• Joey D also reports on an analyst’s report that Comcast keeps raising prices “because it can or because it thinks it can.”

GIVE A GLANCE

• DSL Reports gives some resident reporting on the status of the DOCSIS 30 rollout in Denver.
• Gizmodo reports that T-Mobile is rolling out a 21 mbs, 3g service in Philadelphia. As we linked last week, baseless speculation has pitted Comcast against T-Mobile in a thus-far fictitious angle on buying up Sprint.
• The Examiner wonders where is the Big Ten Network in HD, weeks into the college football season. After my alma mater Temple got handed another loss to Penn State, I’m not sure I care.
• The Washington Post on Comcast’s digital transition and handling it without a box.

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

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

This is the Comcast Roundup, what may or may not become a regular department of ours.

• The Business Insider reports that as online video streaming develops, companies like NetFlix ought to pay less attention to user generated services like YouTube and more attention to diverse, robust cable and telecommunications giants like, oh, say Comcast. ‘The coming war,’ they call it, and not just to goad you into reading their story, although that worked on us.

• Gawker reports that since tech blog Boing Boing has taken sponsorship dollars from Comcast, they’ve pulled back from their once critical coverage. That ain’t gonna be good for BB’s authenticity.
• Broadcasting Cable reports that a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals asked some big questions of Comcast and the FCC in their contentious battle over data caps Comcast imposed in December 2007. This jawn might not be finished before July, BC reported, so we’ll go easy on the coverage.
• Gigaom writes on Comcast beefing up the content on its online FanCast service, where you can watch online video, once you authenticate your cable subscription. There’s a 250 GB cap of broadband service, and, as we just told you, people think caps are all icky.
• Multichannel News reports that the city of Springfield, Mass. is suing Comcast, alleging the cable operator ignored its franchise terms by passing some costs on to subscribers. Springfield, I suspected you least of all.
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a fine Point-Counterpoint from Comcast Vice President David Cohen and NFL Network CEO Steve Bornstein on their fight about how many Comcast subscribers get the football channel. Now that is citizen journalism right there — even if they are both from wire services. Ah.
• Wired reports on Comcast doubled speeds for many San Francisco and Silicon Valley broadband subscribers and adding a top tier of more than 50 mbps downstream. That connection speed, they say, could download a high definition move in less than 20 minutes, but really, think of how much fun you could have with Comcast Town!
• Reuters reports that Moody’s Investors Service upgraded Comcast’s long-term senior unsecured debt ratings last week and said balance sheet measures should bolster the cable company’s credit metrics in 2009. In English that means ’cause Comcast has continued to lessen its debt obligations — even if revenue growth will likely slow — and bring in more subscriptions, Moody’s is a bit more bullish on them, putting Comcast in their eighth-highest investment grade.

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