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On a conference call discussing yesterday's earnings with the media and investors, Comcast said that while they offer 25 to 30 linear HD channels in a typical system now, they expect to push that to 50 to 60 by year's end. The company currently offers switched digital video (which frees up network bandwidth by storing unwatched channels at the edge router) in Denver, Colorado and Cherry Hill, NJ. According to Comcast, their goal is to deploy SDV to about 15% of their systems by the end of the year.

More here: Front Page

Comcast has nailed down a new distribution deal with ION Media Networks, agreeing to continue carriage of the company’s flagship network, while picking up ION’s digital channels, qubo and ION Life.

The qubo property is a multilingual children’s network that focuses on literacy and, per ION’s characterization, “positive values through entertainment,” while the 24/7 wellness channel ION Life offers health and lifestyle programming.

More here: Media Week

A federal judge late Monday temporarily halted Comcast cable's plans to move community access channels higher up the dial today, putting them beyond the reach of thousands of Michigan cable subscribers with analog televisions.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts in Detroit temporarily prevents Comcast from moving PEG -- public, educational and governmental access -- channels across the state into the 900-level digital range. The move would require subscribers with analog televisions to buy digital cable-ready televisions or rent or buy a digital converter box for each set to continue receiving those channels.

More here: Detroit Free Press

Ralph Roberts, Comcast's founder, has a new pay agreement that pays his 2007 salary and bonuses to his beneficiaries for 5 years after he dies.
And John Alchin, Comcast's CFO will retire at end of this year.

The nation's largest cable company, Comcast, told Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) that it already has a carriage agreement with NFL Network and that the channel is already available to anyone who wishes to buy it as part of its Sports Entertainment Package.

Cohen was responding to Kerry's letter asking for a meeting with him, Time Warner Cable president Glenn Britt (Time Warner does not carry the network) and National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell in Washington, D.C., next week about finding a way to let more viewers see the New England Patriots at New York Giants game Dec. 29, which is currently on NFL Network.

More here: »www.broadcastingcable.com/articl···d=47170

The new channels include some that Comcast has already announced in other cities such as CNN HD, Food Network HD and Universal HD. The cable operator, like other cable systems, is trying to catch up with satcaster DIRECTV which says it now has more than 80 national HD channels.

More here: »www.tvpredictions.com/comcasthd120907.htm

»www.multichannel.com/article/CA6475156.html

Comcast is planning to take the Federal Communications Commission to court after the agency on Tuesday night refused to exempt three set-top boxes from rules intended to promote a retail consumer market for such boxes.

The FCC required more than 500 days to act on Comcast’s set-top waivers.

»www.chicagotribune.com/news/opin···6.story

The Big Ten Network, a sports junkie's dream, will launch on Thursday. The TV channel dedicated to Big Ten athletics is set to air 35 football games, 105 men's basketball games and 55 women's basketball games in the next year.

»investing.reuters.co.uk/news/art···6407311

Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable operator, could see its stock soar nearly 57 percent in the next year due to available cash flows that it can spend on operations, according to the Aug.

The company is taking action, even as it greatly expands the premium digital services being offered.

Comcast has stepped up to meet the competitive threat from satellite TV, and customers are rapidly embracing a "triple play" bundle of digital video, high-speed Internet and phone service, which not only brings in more money but makes customers less likely to jump ship.

More here: »apnews.myway.com//article/200708···AG1.html

»www.betanews.com/article/Comcast···3065876

Over six months after Comcast set-top boxes utilizing TiVo's software debuted at CES, the cable giant has officially certified the platform for deployment to customers. The companies originally announced a deal to work together in March 2005.

Neither Comcast nor TiVo said when customers could expect to receive the TiVo software, which will be delivered over the cable network to Comcast's Motorola digital video recorders. Due to specific Comcast and hardware requirements, the interface differs greatly from TiVo's standalone offerings, but the basic features are the same. TiVo inked a similar agreement with cable provider Cox last August.

The nation's largest cable operator has opened "Comcastic Island," a new destination within Second Life, the online virtual world. "Comcastic Island" is a theme park with attractions designed to highlight the speed of Comcast's Internet access services. It includes an auto race track, a jet ski track and a jet pack course...


»tvweek.com/news/2007/06/comcast_···life.php

May 16th 2007 3:35PM by Allan Kreda

With news that a New York state judge has ruled that Comcast Corp. can finally move the NFL Network from basic digital cable platforms to a more expensive digital sports tier, does this signal a new era of pay TV for sports? Maybe.

This is special territory the monster cable operator has been angling for since it and the league-owned network couldn't reach agreement to place National Football League games on the Comcast-owned Versus network before last season.

More here: »www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/05/1···mpanies/

Comcast has announced plans to stop using Microsoft technology to power its on-screen program guide, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

In its place, Comcast will roll out the GuideWorks software and program guide throughout the country. The software will be automatically swapped out beginning in June and running through September.

Right now the software is only being used in boxes in Microsoft's home state of Washington, the same state it debuted in three years ago.

More here: »www.marketingvox.com/archives/20···e-boxes/

Comcast Monday expanded its regional-sports-network portfolio by purchasing Cablevision Systems’ interests in FSN Bay Area and FSN New England. The deal, valued at $570 million, leaves Cablevision with only New York-based RSNs Madison Square Garden Network and FSN New York...

»www.multichannel.com/article/CA6437971.html

Comcast is close to wrapping up a deal to unwind its Insight Midwest partnership with Insight Communications in a deal that could bring half of Insight’s 1.3 million cable customers into the Philadelphia company’s fold.

Comcast has owned 50% of Insight Midwest – a partnership that controls all of Insight’s 1.3 million customers – since 2002 when it acquired AT&T Broadband. Comcast has said as far back as two years ago that it wanted to unwind the partnership – it gained the right to trigger a dissolution on Dec. 31, 2005 – in an effort to simplify its structure...

»www.multichannel.com/article/CA6···ing+News

The nation's 10 largest cable operators are still not installing many removable security modules in customers' homes, even though the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 's July 1 ban on new digital set-tops with integrated security features is just three months away.

Plus, the big MSO's say they're still running into numerous installation problems with these security modules, which are known as CableCARDs. At least two major MSO's claim that they're fielding 1,000 or more "trouble calls" a month concerning the modules...

More here: »www.lightreading.com/document.as···site=cdn