Comcast Roundup: NBC deal facing long review, Comcast dabbles in Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger 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.

• Reuters reports that Comcast’s deal to take from General Electric a majority stake in NBC Universal seems increasingly likely but that its acceptance will then be slowed by a lengthy review process, not only by the FCC but by congressional committees beginning the long haul to midterm elections.
• In an excellent piece of business journalism, the New York Times runs a top notch profile of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and his path through content courting. Read this, my friends.
• Not to be outdone, the LA Times has its own piece of long-form Comcast business journalism, chronicling how the NBC Universal purchase would make it an elite “major global communications player.”
• Bloomberg News reports that Comcast is working with Ticketmaster and Live Nation on salvaging their mega merger that is now under U.S. antitrust scrutiny. Does that merger still sound crazy to you? Read this excellent Philadelphia Weekly cover story on it from the alt weekly’s music editor Brian McManus.

After the jump Verizon FiOS swiping Comcast customers in Chestnut Hill and video of a Comcast executive talking about TV Everywhere.

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Comcast Roundup: ‘Major’ challenges with TV Everywhere persist, no baseball for elderly and More

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.

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Comcast Roundup: In bed with Time Warner, Comcast Idol and More

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

In Comcast news big enough to get Philebrity’s Joey Sweeney to bite, Comcast has reached a partnership with Time Warner to put content from their Turner Broadcasting online, where Comcast-subscribers can watch, as the Business Journal reported yesterday.

The agreement also included a set of principles for future online distribution of TV shows on a platform they call TV Everywhere, which require viewer authentication. Read those guiding principles here.

In the announcement, Comcast said it will begin testing next month this On Demand Online with 5,000 subscribers. The initial Turner programmaing will include content from TBS and TNT. No word on if you’ll be able to get those old reruns of Walker Texas Ranger.

This model is seen as a direct threat to advertising-supported Web TV streaming sites like Hulu, as Wired reported. Paid Content reports that Comcast got a taste for that model from ESPN360 in its partnership with Disney.

The Inquirer’s Joe Distefano, who offered the news a brief, recently reported on timid speculation about a Comcast merger with Time Warner.

After the jump, someone else has an interview with Brian Roberts, Verizon gets faster, video of Comcast Idol participants, and four other Comcast stories for the faithful.

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Verizon takes steps to adding new local channel

Hold on to your clunky digital cable boxes Philadelphia, because a good old-fashioned capitalist throwdown is brewing between local cable giant Comcast and its feisty competitor Verizon.

You may remember that Verizon received approval from City Council earlier this year to build a $1 billion FiOS network in the city. According to the company’s franchise agreement with the city, it will fully cover the city in FiOS within seven years with initial service offerings beginning by the end of 2009.

If recent moves by Verizon in the 67th ward are a sign of things to come, Verizon may be challenging the cable giant’s Comcast Network news channel as well.
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Comcast Roundup: Verizon says desist, NBA TV inks and More

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

It isn’t true, so you really ought to stop saying it.

That’s the crux of a cease and desist letter that Verizon Communications has sent to Comcast in response to the telecommunications giant’s series of advertisements called “Don’t Fall for FiOS,” in which, among other claims, Comcast calls a triple-play-like service for bundle from Verizon $400 more expensive per year than the ‘Cast’s version, as reported Tuesday by the Inquirer’s Bob Fernandez.

“Verizon’s been running a negative campaign against Comcast for years and its response to our campaign shows that they can dish it out but they can’t take it,” a Comcast spokeswoman says.

Boys and girls, that fight is getting as mean spirited as Boost and Cricket. Get more details in Bob’s story.

After the jump, Comcast reports to the FCC, a mildly awkward Comcast interview on Web teen safety and four other stories that would interest any Comcast-head.

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