Comcast Roundup: ‘Xbox Live now bigger than Comcast,’ why GOP win helps 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.

DEFINITE READS

• Watch Out, Big Cable: Xbox Live Now Bigger Than Comcast [Gigaom via New York Times] Xbox Live’s 25 million subscribers tops Comcast’s 23 million, a figure that declined by a quarter million subscribers last quarter.
• Names You Need to Know In 2011: Comcast’s Steve Burke [Forbes] — A suggestion by a Forbes reporter to make him a part of an upcoming issue on the biggest new names to know, as Burke will be largely leading the integration of NBC Universal into Comcast. H/T Philly Tech News
• AT&T, Comcast May Fend Off Web Rules Under Republicans [Bloomberg via BusinessWeek] — “Verizon Communications Inc. and cable companies led by Comcast Corp. may find it easier to block Internet-service regulations with Republicans in charge of the U.S. House, analysts said.”
• Astros, Rockets finalize deal to launch TV network [Houston Chronicle] — Comcast SportsNet Houston to launch in 2010, seen as a big victory against Fox Sports, with whom local sports are currently being broadcast. It will be the tenth regional Comcast SportsNet.

Below, a TiVo executive on the Comcast-NBC deal, how Comcast could help make Philly a better city and more.

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Events highlights for the week of June 15 – June 21, 2009

Yeah, so last week was a little thin for Philly tech events. You were bored, confused, even lost without a daily dose of tech goings-on.

Think of it as a savings account for all the cool stuff going on this week. You didn’t want to go out in that rain, anyway.

On Monday, hit up Philly.rb‘s Pub Night and don’t even say you’re sorry that you once were down with Python. Can’t we all just get along? Central NJ Drupal will host an info session Tuesday to help you get involved with the Project. We call it the Project with a capital P because damn if they ain’t been working hard. Maybe it’s time to throw in your two cents.

Wednesday, Mike Welsh of Newgrounds.com and ActionScript coder for Xbox Live Arcade’s best-seller Castle Crashers will lead Philadelphia Flash Users Group‘s discussion on AS3 game development. We never understood why Super Mario went 3D anyway, and we think Mike would agree.

We hate when this happens: a dozen blocks West, Philly Startup Leaders will host a second can’t-be-missed Wednesday night event. Neat Company co-founder Rafi Spero will give his “Unplugged” presentation on the blood, sweat, tears and scanners that went into the company’s successful receipt organization software.

Last but not least, PhillyCHI will host a happy hour to celebrate all things human-computer interaction. Why a happy hour? Because it’s 5 o’clock and someone’s got a bad UI somewhere, that’s why. More details on all of these events after the jump.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.
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