Comcast Roundup: Brian Roberts checking Manhattan real estate, Time Warner comparisons and more

DEFINITE READS

• NewTeeVee dives into research analysis comparing Comcast to Time Warner Cable, another giant that became a media behemoth in a less-than-perfect merger.
• MarketWatch details the paywall-protected reporting from the Wall Street Journal that Comcast CEO Brian Roberts is shopping a $7-$12 million Manhattan condominium. …It’s either a place to rest after dropping in on his prospective NBC subsidiary or a way to contrast the Center City condo he should get instead.
• Ars Technica goes deeper into U.S. Senator Herb Kohl D-Wisc. and his call for Comcast to pull out of Hulu ownership via NBC within a year of the merger in order to earn government approval. H/T Philly Tech News

Below, an LA NBC regulatory meeting, supporting Philadelphia boosterism and more.

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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 Roundup: TV Everywhere balloons, Shaq and Stein are back and More

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

Seventeen more cable TV networks have agreed to put their content on Comcast’s TV Everywhere, the proposed online video service that would be offered to subscribers only. That brings the total to 23, according to the Associated Press.

Though some public discourse has remained skeptical of the authentication model, Comcast has continued to move forward with its unprecedented experiment of paid content on the Web.

HBO is in that number of participants. The cable channel recently announced it will put at least 750 hours of its programming on the service scheduled to be rolled out for 5,000 trial subscribers in coming weeks, as reported by the Philadelphia Business Journal. That’s nearly as high profile as the thunder heard after CBS announced it was following suit, as reported by MediaMemo, which followed Time Warner becoming the first big fish in the pond with Comcast. Others, like Starz, added their own buzz.

Details on the security of the system aren’t yet clear, but it’s unlikely 23 networks, including major players like Time Warner, CBS and HBO would join so quickly if something wasn’t clear.

After the jump, more social media praise, a Comcast technician turns to crime and six other stories for the faithful.

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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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Comcast Roundup: CEO eyes paid video streaming, Time Warner deal and More

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

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said two big things this week.

You’re gonna pay for online viewing of TV content and, yeah, this economy still sucks.

Roberts joined a growing group of cable company executives who are calling for a China Wall around online-streaming cable content, as Media Post News reported. They’re calling it an “era of authentication,” in which you won’t be able to pop in to watch episodes of your favorite gardening shows unless you prove you’re paying customer of HGTV. Time Warner and other top chiefs are mostly seen as on board — only technology and implementation stand in the way. The same obstacles for my jet pack.

Roberts also let us in on a little secret. The decline in consumer spending is still rattling Comcast here in the second quarter, as MarketWatch reported. Others have pointed to other reasons for the struggles, but those problems don’t seem to be disappearing anytime soon. Folks aren’t necessarily ditching their service any quicker, Roberts says, it’s just that no one else is calling up.

As if that wasn’t enough buzz, Roberts got some residual ink about the Time Warner deal from the Philly swoop by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who said he and Roberts are gal pals.

After the jump, what if Comcast bought TimeWarner, at least somebody cares about hockey and five other Comcast stories the truly faithful would read.

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Comcast reports 5.4 percent increase, subscriber growth drops

Today, Philly’s cable giant is surely feeling Comcastic.

Despite poor economic conditions, Center City-based Comcast reported a 5.4 percent increase in net income in the first quarter of 2009 to $778 million, or 27 cents per share, according to financial results released today.

Cable network revenue has been well-off this quarter. Time Warner, Walt Disney and Viacom all reported stronger than expected quarterly profit, Reuters reported yesterday. Comcast beat analyst expectations by 4 cents per share.

Still, Comcast declined to provide a forecast for the upcoming year; Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis cautioned that the company is “conservative” about the use of its cash as the year progresses.

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Comcast Roundup: Comcast Center tallest U.S. LEED building and squabbles with Verizon

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

It isn’t the region’s largest employer, nor is it even the biggest or most profitable. It just makes a lot more noise. While we cover some of it and hope to do more, a lot of that noise isn’t worth much more than a sentence or two. But much of it is worth following, and we bet many of you readers would like to, so we’re going to sort everything you need to know.

This is the Comcast Roundup, what may or may not become a regular department of ours (we don’t make promises we can’t keep, except to our illegitimate children).

• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the Comcast Center, the tallest building in Center City, has garnered another distinction — the tallest LEED-certified building in the country.

Read more on the company’s continued battles with Verizon, NFL Network, how Comcast might be defending your right to not pay more for heavy Internet use and more.

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