Comcast struggles to quantify TV Everywhere iPad viewership [Roundup]

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• Cable companies offer free Wi-Fi — what’s the catch?

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• TV Everywhere’s Counting Problem [All Things Digital] — “Witness Comcast’s announcement yesterday, made at the cable industry’s annual convention in Boston, that it has been working with Nielsen on a plan to count viewers when they watched video on an iPad*, using Comcast’s Xfinity app. For various technical reasons, this is much harder than you’d think, and the two companies have already been beavering away at this for 18 months.”
• Extra lane: how Comcast assures that Xfinity TV on Xbox 360 works well [Ars Technica]
• New Comcast services threaten wireless text and data revenue [Cnet]
• Comcast CEO Roberts not attending The Cable Show [FierceCable]

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Comcast will sell ‘substantial’ equity stake in A&E cable network [Roundup]

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 email subscription for our weekly Comcast roundup or other news updates.

• Comcast to Sell ‘Substantial’ Equity Stake in A&E [Bloomberg] — “Comcast’s NBC Universal entertainment business exercised an option to sell a “substantial” portion of its equity in A&E Television Networks, owner of the Lifetime and History cable channels. “
• Senator Al Franken questions Comcast on Xbox 360 [TG Daily] — “Comedian-turned-Senator Al Franken wants the FCC to look into the way Comcast is offering streaming video on the Xbox 360.”
• Comcast offers ESPN via iPhone, iPad [Inquirer] — “Comcast Corp. made available to its cable-TV subscribers the WatchESPN service for iPhone and iPad devices, part of the TV Everywhere initiative.”
• 7 ways Comcast is killing the cable killers [Gigaom]

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What move from Comcast may come in conflict with its support of SOPA? [Roundup]

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 email subscription for our weekly Comcast roundup or other news updates.

DEFINITE READS

• Disney, Comcast And Why TV Everywhere Alone Is Not Enough [paidContent]
• Comcast-Disney Pact Signals More Deals Aimed at Fighting Netflix [Bloomberg]
• Comcast, AstraZeneca in coalition to control health benefits spending [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Comcast Completes DNSSEC Deployment [Comcast Voices] — “I am pleased to announce that Comcast, the largest ISP in the U.S., is the first large ISP in the North America to have fully implemented Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC),” which precipitated the end of its domain helper program. Then TechDirt does the important deed of tying this to its support of SOPA.

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MSNBC, Chris Matthews settling on Comcast ownership: Roundup

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 subscri ption for our Comcast news updates.

• MSNBC aims for the gap [Inquirer] — MSNBC employees, including host Chris Matthews, seem to think Comcast ‘has a plan.’
• TV Everywhere Starts Getting Somewhere [Light Reading] — “The battle lines on TV Everywhere content rights are still being drawn by MSOs and programmers, but the authentication systems that will make those services easier for consumers to access and help the category achieve some scale before industry-wide standards are adopted are finally starting to take shape.”
• NBCU International Loses Top Exec in Comcast Reshuffling [The Wrap] — ” Roma Khanna, a top executive for NBC Universal International, is stepping down in the management shakeup that installs Jeff Shell as NBCU International’s president.”
• Local Dwarf Couple Sues E!, Comcast [Fox 29] — A Collingswood, N.J. couple is suing Comcast, E! and Talk Soup host Joel McHale for what they allege are inappropriate comments. [Not sure what's the appropriate term here.]
• Mnet Inks Carriage Deal With Comcast [Multichannel News] — “Asian-themed entertainment network Mnet has reached a carriage deal with Comcast that will give the upstart channel digital basic carriage in several major Comcast systems.”
• Comcast Beefs Up Customer Service [The Street]

NBC Network turnaround will take years, says Steve Burke: Comcast Roundup

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.

• Comcast Posts 7% Increase in Revenue [New York Times]
• New NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke: NBC Network Turnaround Will Take Years [Hollywood Reporter]
• Update: McDowell: Deal Desperation Fueled Comcast Acquiescence to Net Rules [Multichannel News] — “Republican FCC commissioner Robert McDowell said Wednesday that Comcast told him the reason it agreed to voluntarily abide by the FCC’s network neutrality rules whether or not they were overturned by the courts was because it was desperate to get the deal approved.”
• Is TV Everywhere Working For Comcast? [Gigaom] — “Comcast had some good news for investors this morning, with news that the number of subscribers lost to pay TV competitors and online-only services had slowed dramatically in the fourth quarter. Could Comcast’s slower subscriber losses be evidence that its TV Everywhere initiative might actually be working?” H/T Philly Tech News
• Comcast, Time Warner join IPv6 test program [Cnet]

Comcast’s live streaming TV tablet app facing pushback from cable networks: Roundup

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

• Comcast Chief Roberts Urges FCC Members to Approve NBC Purchase [Bloomberg] — “Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts asked two Federal Communications Commission members for the agency’s prompt approval of the cable company’s purchase of NBC Universal, according to a filing. “
• Comcast’s live TV iPad app is running into resistance from cable networks [ZDNet] — “TV Everywhere is looking like it’s getting stuck at home. Comcast’s Xfinity TV app, which the cable giant promised would bring live programming and video on-demand choices to iPads and Android tablets later this year, has run afoul of cable networks that don’t think Comcast has the right to deliver its shows to these new devices.”

MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

• Comcast, NBC round up Hill support [Politico]
• More Legislators Push for Comcast/NBCU [Broadcast and Cable] — “Add seven more congressfolk to the list of those who have written the FCC to ask it to approve the Comcast/NBCU deal expeditiously.”
• FCC May Force Comcast to Unbundle Modems [Light Reading] — As part of NBC deal regulatory concessions.
• Comcast cuts cost of entry-level cable package 25 percent [Inquirer]
• Comcast, library offering digital glimpse of JFK [Boston Globe]
• Voices Weigh in as FCC Nears Vote on Comcast-NBC Universal Venture [Comcast blog] — David L. Cohen writes
• Comcast-NBC merger expected to have net neutrality conditions [Post Tech: Washington Post]

WORTH NOTING

• Comcast’s Gilford Jumps To ABC As SVP, Digital Media [paidContent]
• The Buzz from CES 2011 – Trends to Watch [Comcast blog] — Perspective on the major Las Vegas event.

Comcast Roundup: Stephen Burke will lead NBC, Comcast.net hackers sentenced 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.

DEFINITE READS

• Burke to lead NBC Universal after Comcast deal [paidContent] — 52-year-old Comcast COO Stephen Burke will be made NBC Universal CEO after the acquisition is approved. Burke recently made the most expensive rowhome purchase in Philadelphia history.
• Stepping Down, NBC Chief Relishes His Long Tenure [New York Times] — Embattled NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker announces leaving his post, acknowledging the decision is not entirely his own, but part of a desire by Comcast leadership to have “their own team in place” with the close of the Comcast-NBC acquisition.
• Comcast Spends Big in Pressing for Merger [New York Times] — The piece questions whether the tens of millions of dollars that Comcast is spending on lobbying for regulatory approval of its taking a majority stake in NBC is an expensive form of machine politics or something more democratic.

Below, more details on the NBC executive shuffle, Comcast.net hackers sentenced and more.

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Comcast Roundup: Europeans OK NBC deal, saying customer service improved and More

Updated 7/15/10 @ 2:37 p.m.: WiMax product reporting

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 Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the European Commission has approved the Comcast-NBC Universal deal.
• Broadcasting and Cable reports that at this week’s Comcast-NBC deal public hearing in Chicago the focus turned to the deal’s potential impact on the future of online video. H/T Philly Tech News
• The Washington Post adds to the storyline of online video playing into the Comcast-NBC regulatory process, all after the Inquirer set the table on what the impact of the hearing was meant to be.

Below, get your $16, TV Everywhere is called ‘all hype’ and more.

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Comcast Roundup: Antitrust reviews begin of NBC deal, carrying ESPN 3d 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.

• The Washington Post reports that the Justice Department will begin an antitrust review of the Comcast-NBC merger.
• The Post also reports that a Senate Judiciary subcommittee and a host of other House and Senate panels want to review the deal.
• The Silicon Alley Insider reports that Comcast is in talks to carry ESPN’s announced 3d sports channel.

Below, the power of Comcast’s top attorney, the Tennis Channel is pissed and More.

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Comcast Roundup: Calling broadband stimulus packages ineligible, Yellow Pages on TV 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.

The Inqy’s DiStefano reports that Comcast submitted data yesterday to the federal government suggesting some proposals for broadband stimulus would duplicate its services and effectively subsidize competitors. The Daily Herald adds that the company says that may make those proposals ineligible. Relatedly, a series of Philadelphia proposals for that pot of money came up short.

New York Times media columnist David Carr suggests Comcast’s “likely” bid to buy a majority stake in NBC Universal is foolhardy. If it were to get through, the Inquirer’s Joe DiStefano writes on the undercurrent conversation about whether the federal government would even allow the deal to happen.

After the jump, the latest in net neutrality, video online news and ten other Comcast links to see, including video of Brian Roberts at the Web 2.0 summit.

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