Beerleaguer reportedly purchased by Comcast SportsNet

In March, Comcast SportsNet purchased Philadelphia sports blog The700level.com. Three months later, CSN has apparently made another move.

Last week, Jason Weitzel, the founder of seven-year-old Phillies blog Beerleaguer.com, announced that his site had been acquired for an undisclosed sum.

Like in the 700 Level deal, the property was bought out entirely though it will retain editorial control and its founder was given a position with CSN.

Weitzel, who spent eight years at the Reading Eagle newspaper, most recently at readingeagle.com, says he left to take a content manager position with Comcast Sports Group. But he says he’s not worried about stepping on the toes of Enrico Campitelli, the 29-year-old founder of the 700 Level.

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Comcast Roundup: Won’t tie rates to inflation, chasing BitTorrent users 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.

Update: edited title, updated TV Everywhere link

DEFINITE READS

• The Washington Post reports that the FCC has begun a review of the “rules governing how broadcasters and pay television services negotiate transmission fees,” prompted by disputes surrounding the Comcast-NBC deal. The Post also reports that the FCC commissioner blasted Internet service providers, like Comcast, for raising prices (as the company did) as the agency has moved to provide more affordable Web access.
• The Inquirer’s Bob Fernandez reports that Comcast won’t tie their rates to inflation, a proposed condition to its merger with NBC. Fernandez also reports that Comcast founder Ralph Roberts celebrated his 90th birthday.
• Businessweek reports that Comcast and TimeWarner, among others, helped fight off a once prevalent trend toward free TV.

Below, how Comcast is chasing down some BitTorrent users, NBC executives learning Comcast culture and a dozen more stories.

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Comcast SportsNet purchases sports blog The700level

Comcast SportsNet has purchased The700level.com for an undisclosed sum, the popular sports blog announced on its site today.

Launching in January 2004, the blog will become a CSN property, though founder Enrico Campitelli Jr., 29, will be brought on as a full-time employee to edit and oversee the product. The site’s other contributors will be used as freelancers.

“We’ve been doing it a long time and I like to think we do it pretty well. But there were maybe two or three other Philly sports blogs in existence when I started. Now there are hundreds,” Campitelli says in his announcement. “This move allows us to not only differentiate, but to also put my undivided attention and effort into making this site a must visit destination for Philly sports fans.

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Ten Philadelphia competitors and their January Web traffic

Click to enlarge.

Perhaps one of the most influential realities of the Web is metrics. The details of traffic and audience online have so rapidly become expansive that they have likely not yet been entirely harnessed.

Arguments still rage around the accuracy and importance of a myriad of Web analytics, but, away from page views, an increasing standard is to compare sites by their monthly unique visitors, though that number’s efficacy has no doubt come into question.

Until now, very little attention has been paid publicly to comparing Philadelphia’s many competitors by way of traffic comparison. With the first numbers for 2010 released this month by public Web analytics company Compete, Technically Philly decided to compile the first such digest.

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