[UPDATED] Comcast Roundup: merger would make NBC ‘robust,’ Q3 profit falls 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 ane-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

Updated 10/28/10 @ 10:23 p.m. with a variety of new stories

DEFINITE READS

• Zalaznick Says Comcast Takeover Would Make NBC `Robust’ [Washington Post] — Video of Lauren Zalaznick, head of NBC Universal Inc.’s women and lifestyle division, saying just that.
• Comcast Loses More Subscribers Than Expected, but Its Earnings Top Estimates [New York Times]
• Is Comcast’s Xfinity TV a Trojan Horse? [Gigaom] H/T Philly Tech News

Below, Comcast says its ‘disappearing subscribers’ aren’t ‘cord cutters’ and more.

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Sponsored Post: What can the iPad do for higher ed?

This is a sponsored post from Jeff Thompson, CEO of Towerstream, a leading 4G service provider delivering high-speed wireless Internet access to businesses. Towerstream began providing service in Philadelphia in December 2009.

Home to America’s first university and more than 300,000 students, Philadelphia is synonymous with education. Recent developments in technology are rapidly changing the way that educators teach and create curriculums and how students process information and communicate with each other. Students and teachers are increasingly using mobile devices –such as smartphones, the Kindle and iPad – in addition to their desktop and laptop computers for their academic interests.

Recent reports from the top universities have shown that campuses are investigating how to best incorporate the latest technologies, specifically mobile devices, into their curriculums. With devices like the Kindle and iPad poised to potentially revolutionize education, schools will need to prepare themselves to support increased Internet bandwidth demands both on and off campus. The Illinois Institute of Technology recently announced that all incoming freshman will receive the Apple iPad and instructors will build applications specific to their courses. NPR reported a few weeks ago that an Arizona school district installed wireless routers in their school buses for students who have long commutes.

Towerstream CEO Jeff Thompson

Schools will continue to face the challenge of implementing high-speed Internet access for students and faculty without requiring major infrastructural build-out and additional costs. One solution that many schools have found to be particularly useful is setting up a wireless Internet connection, as it adapts to the existing campus set-up, does not require heavy installation and can be turned up in a matter of minutes if more bandwidth is needed.

Our mobile devices are only as good as the Internet connection that supports them, so my advice to schools that are contemplating adopting e-Readers for their students, would be to make sure that the Internet capabilities of the campus are ready to support a massive influx of data requirements.

Comcast Roundup: FCC defends right to regulate, new iPad device and More

DEFINITE READS

• Variety editorializes that Comcast has much to learn about the content world that NBC ownership would drag them into, but “is looking better all the time.”
• The Hill reports that nearly the entire Pennsylvania Congressional delegation supports the Comcast-NBC deal.
• The Inquirer’s Joe DiStefano reports on the ‘chaos’ that analysts predict will come from the FCC’s plan to regulate broadband Internet services, plans to defend so-called ‘net neutrality’ policies.
• The Washington Post reports that cable stocks took a beating because of it — and that the FCC has gone on something of a campaign to assert it does still have authority over cable broadband policy despite a recent appeals court that went in Comcast’s favor.
• With all humility, Technically Philly has a lengthy Q&A with Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen on the company’s relationship with Philadelphia and his views on the region.

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Friday Q&A: AT&T regional VP and General Manager Dan Lafond

As we wrote in a column last week, AT&T is championing its mobile stability in the region. And Dan Lafond, AT&T’s vice president and general manager in central and eastern Pennsylvania, wants you to know about it.

The wireless carrier has received its fair share of criticism since the iPhone launched in 2007. Though the smartphone galvanized the mobile industry, AT&T—which, for now, exclusively sells Apple’s iPhone—has been beaten into the ground for network capacity concerns. A report released in October said that more than half of iPhone users would jump to another network if given a chance.

But the carrier has also responded with substantial infrastructure investment. In Pennsylvania alone, $725 million has been spent on capacity. And it seems to be paying off.

But, as Lafond notes in the interview below, in San Francisco and New York where the network is most congested, there exists the most news outlets reporting on technology, hence more negative coverage. Here in Philadelphia, he says, AT&T has reason to brag.

After the jump, we discuss with Lafond AT&T’s infrastructure investments in Pennsylvania, how mobile is affecting the digital divide and of course, the impact of the iPhone and what will happen if Verizon cuts a deal with Apple, too.

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Inquirer, Daily News publisher pledges to charge for iPad application

One year ago, Inquirer and Daily News Publisher Brian Tierney pledged to add a paid-content model to Philly.com by the end of 2009, as we were first to report.

Of course, that never happened and Philadelphia Media Holdings plunged into bankruptcy proceedings. But with another spring, comes another pledge.

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