Comcast

Verizon Wireless strikes a spectrum deal with Comcast. Comcast launches Streampix to compete with Netflix. Netflix complains that Comcast's monthly data caps give Streampix an unfair advantage. Sony drops plans for a virtual cable-TV service, also blaming data caps. Verizon says DSL customers can't save money by canceling phone service and relying on Internet calling. It's hard to keep up with all the telecommunications headlines lately without getting a bit dizzy. But there's a key thread connecting these recent stories that's worth paying attention to. All involve threats to the idea of the Internet as an open, level, and competitive playing field.

With Internet usage spiking, Comcast Corp. will eliminate its monthly 250-gigabyte cap for Xfinity Internet subscribers but charge additional $10 fees for users who exceed 300 gigabytes. The 300-gigabyte limit could be used to videoconference on Skype for 225 hours, or watch more than 100 hours of Netflix movies. Final details of the new plan were not available on Thursday because they have not been developed, company officials said in a conference call. The nation's largest broadband company with 18 million Internet subscribers will experiment with two new usage-consumption models in markets around the country before determining the best option for it and consumers.

London, ho! Two Philadelphia-based companies will be seeking gold-medal performances at the Summer Olympics: food vendor Aramark and media giant Comcast Corp., whose NBC Sports division holds the U.S. broadcast rights. Officials from both companies spoke last week about the Games, scheduled for July 27 through Aug. 12, at a meeting hosted by the British American Business Council of Greater Philadelphia at the Cira Centre. It kicked off the fanfare for the global event, which Nick McInnes, a deputy consul-general with the British Consulate, said could generate $35 billion in economic activity.

ONCE AGAIN, Comcast is trying to milk us for more money. This time, it's $8 for the NFL Network that other outlets offer free. This is the same company with a commercial about the big bad expensive phone company. I'm shocked at Brian Roberts' audacity. How much more money does he honestly think he can wring out of us? I'm ready to throw a parade the day I can get Verizon FIOS in my neighborhood. Keith E. Callan, Philadelphia

Penned by the ghost writer behind popular autobiographies of Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca and "Mayflower Madam" Sydney Biddle Barrows, An Incredible Dream, a self-published authorized corporate history, has been released by Comcast Corp. The 424-page, 27-chapter book is being distributed to more than 100,000 Comcast and NBCUniversal employees and will become an orientation must-read for new hires. The book cover bears an image of Ralph Roberts, the lead company cofounder, now 92 years old, with arms open, seemingly embracing a crowd.

WASHINGTON - Thirty minutes northwest of Capitol Hill, past the foreign embassies and American University, is the NBC News bureau that's the home of Hardball anchor Chris Matthews, now an employee of the rebooted Comcast Corp. - a newer, flashier, more ratings-driven cable giant. One day last week, Japan was in the headlines with its post-tsunami nuclear crisis, and Sarah Palin was visiting Israel. "What phony baloney," MSNBC host Matthews cracked during his afternoon editorial meeting about the former Alaska governor's trip.

Answering Wall Street's call for higher returns to shareholders after stabilizing its cable-TV subscriber losses, Comcast Corp. said this morning it would boost its annual dividend 44 percent to 65 cents a share and repurchase $6.5 billion in company shares, with $3 billion of it spent this year. The nation's largest cable provider disclosed its shareholder plans in its earnings report, which showed it lost only 17,000 cable-TV subscribers in the fourth quarter. That's compared against a loss of 135,000 subscribers in the same period one year ago. Comcast also substantially improved its TV subscriber losses on a year-over-year basis-losing 460,000 subscribers in 2011 compared with 757,000 in 2010.

Comcast Corp. yesterday reported record revenues and operating cash flow for the year ended Dec. 31, but earnings for the Bala Cynwyd company dropped sharply. Comparisons were complicated, however, by accounting practices related to a large acquisition during the year. Net income for the year was offset almost entirely by Comcast's equity in the losses of its newly acquired affiliates. Comcast and four other cable companies purchased Group W Cable Inc. from Westinghouse in June and are in the process of dividing up Group W's cable systems.

Comcast Corp. plans to enter the children's programming business and hopes to televise three hours of educational shows per week in place of regular cable programming. The Philadelphia company, one of the nation's biggest cable operators, said it intended to show children's programs produced or bought by its C3 subsidiary within 18 months. Comcast said it was seeking changes in contracts with cable networks such as USA Networks and MTV so it can substitute its own shows at a time of day when children are likely to be watching.

Comcast Corp. says an experimental method for managing the Internet could slow speeds for all heavy online users for 10 to 20 minutes. The Philadelphia company is testing the new method in five markets around the nation in response to a Federal Communications Commission order, formally released yesterday. Philadelphia is not one of the markets. The order says Comcast has to stop targeting its customers who use BitTorrent Inc. software to view pirated movies online and other Internet video.

Comcast Corp. said Tuesday it would add features to an existing app that enables Xfinity Voice subscribers to make and answer phone calls on its just-announced national WiFi network. The free upgraded Xfinity Mobile app — to be released after Apple Inc. gives its approval — temporarily converts a smartphone into a home phone for the purpose of calling in a WiFi hot spot. The app, which will also come in an Android version, contains a new function for call-forwarding home phone calls to a smartphone.

Five of the nation's largest cable companies — Comcast Corp., Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable — are creating a seamless national WiFi network to enable cable broadband subscribers to stream data or access the Internet through smart phones, tablets or laptop computers, the companies said Monday. The initial network consists of 50,000 WiFi hot spots, most of them currently in the Philadelphia-to-New York corridor. A top Comcast official, Neil Smit, said the nation's largest cable company with 18 million residential broadband customers would likely build out the WiFi network in the Northeast, between Washington and Boston.

With Internet usage spiking, Comcast Corp. will eliminate its monthly 250-gigabyte cap for Xfinity Internet subscribers but charge additional $10 fees for users who exceed 300 gigabytes. The 300-gigabyte limit could be used to videoconference on Skype for 225 hours, or watch more than 100 hours of Netflix movies. Final details of the new plan were not available on Thursday because they have not been developed, company officials said in a conference call. The nation's largest broadband company with 18 million Internet subscribers will experiment with two new usage-consumption models in markets around the country before determining the best option for it and consumers.

London, ho! Two Philadelphia-based companies will be seeking gold-medal performances at the Summer Olympics: food vendor Aramark and media giant Comcast Corp., whose NBC Sports division holds the U.S. broadcast rights. Officials from both companies spoke last week about the Games, scheduled for July 27 through Aug. 12, at a meeting hosted by the British American Business Council of Greater Philadelphia at the Cira Centre. It kicked off the fanfare for the global event, which Nick McInnes, a deputy consul-general with the British Consulate, said could generate $35 billion in economic activity.

Verizon Wireless strikes a spectrum deal with Comcast. Comcast launches Streampix to compete with Netflix. Netflix complains that Comcast's monthly data caps give Streampix an unfair advantage. Sony drops plans for a virtual cable-TV service, also blaming data caps. Verizon says DSL customers can't save money by canceling phone service and relying on Internet calling. It's hard to keep up with all the telecommunications headlines lately without getting a bit dizzy. But there's a key thread connecting these recent stories that's worth paying attention to. All involve threats to the idea of the Internet as an open, level, and competitive playing field.

Comcast Corp. made available to its cable-TV subscribers the WatchESPN service for iPhone and iPad devices, part of the TV Everywhere initiative. The WatchESPN app is free and allows Comcast subscribers to stream ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU to the mobile devices. Comcast subscribers also can watch the channels on WatchESPN.com if they provide their Comcast credentials. Later this week, Comast says WatchESPN will be available on XfinityTV.com. Comcast acquired the mobile-streaming rights to ESPN content in a 10-year rights deal, valued at about $26 billion, with the Disney Co in January.

IN THE REGION Gomes to gambling's Hall of Fame The late owner of Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City is headed to the Gaming Hall of Fame. Dennis Gomes was a veteran casino executive and mob-busting investigator in Las Vegas. He died in February of complications from kidney dialysis. The head of the American Gaming Association, Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., said the casino industry "lost one of its boldest and most creative owners. " The movie Casino was based on a mob-run theft operation that Gomes uncovered while working with the Nevada Gaming Commission.

A Jenkintown law firm filed a consumer fraud class-action suit Monday against Comcast Spectacor, parent company of the Flyers, on behalf of all 2011-12 full-season ticket holders. The complaint alleges that Comcast Spectacor and the Flyers misled season-ticket holders by excluding the 2012 Winter Classic game tickets - a regular-season game held at the Phillies' Citizens Bank Park - after the contractual ticket-holder agreement stated that fans prepaid for 44 home games: three preseason contests and all 41 regular-season home games.

Helped by Super Bowl advertising and still-surging demand for Internet services, Comcast Corp.'s first-quarter profits boomed 30 percent to $1.2 billion and revenue rose 22 percent to almost $15 billion. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in a conference call that he was "really pleased" and that "cable had another outstanding quarter with real momentum. " But analysts seemed jolted by Comcast's 37,000 TV-subscriber losses, seemingly believing that the company could reverse five years of TV subscriber losses.

Penned by the ghost writer behind popular autobiographies of Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca and "Mayflower Madam" Sydney Biddle Barrows, An Incredible Dream, a self-published authorized corporate history, has been released by Comcast Corp. The 424-page, 27-chapter book is being distributed to more than 100,000 Comcast and NBCUniversal employees and will become an orientation must-read for new hires. The book cover bears an image of Ralph Roberts, the lead company cofounder, now 92 years old, with arms open, seemingly embracing a crowd.