Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), the third- largest U.S. wireless operator, accused Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)and two other cable-TV companies of infringing patents related to transmitting phone calls over digital lines. (more)
(Reuters) – The Justice Department is probing Verizon Wireless’ multi-billion dollar deal to buy wireless airwaves from cable operators and let them resell its mobile service, the department said on Tuesday. (more)
NEW YORK (AP) — Cable companies Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks are giving up on their dreams of creating their own wireless network, opting instead to resell Verizon Wireless service. (more)
The Nashua Telegraph reported Thursday that New Hampshire will be among the first states to join the new Comcast Internet Essentials program. (more)
If you live in an area served by Comcast and your kids receive free lunches at school through the National School Lunch Program, you may qualify for a new Internet service from Comcast, which costs just $9.95 a month. (more)
Over the last year and a half, particularly since the labor dispute between the state of Wisconsin and its public employees, there has been a lot of effort at MSNBC aimed at casting the Koch brothers as billionaires trying to interfere with the democratic process. But a case could be made that MSNBC isn’t so far removed from money influencing the democratic process either. (more)
Democrat Massachusetts Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry owns more stock in media companies than any other member of Congress, according to a report released Wednesday by the site opensecrets.org. (more)
During a radio broadcast that aired Monday, Fox’s Glenn Beck joked that he’d foreseen former “Countdown” host and “biggest pain in the ass in the world” Keith Olbermann’s abrupt MSNBC leave. (more)
MSNBC host Keith Olbermann’s surprise announcement on Friday that he will be leaving the network effective immediately came days following the Federal Communication Commission’s decision to allow the acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast. The coincidence has led many commentators to speculate a connection. (more)
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Department of Justice (DOJ), and five state attorneys general have given the green light for media provider Comcast to buy a 51 percent share of NBC Universal. The nod came with plenty of regulatory requirements aimed at safeguarding Comcast’s competitors and monitoring the burgeoning online video market. (more)
The pending merger between NBC Universal and Comcast appears to have received Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski’s support because of the companies’ recent promises to the NAACP, Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, the National Urban League and several Hispanic and Asian civil rights organizations. The two media giants promised more “diversity” in new and existing programming, and in all levels of the company and they promised more minority characters in existing television programs and more new programs targeted at the specific racial minorities. (more)
Tick-tock goes the Federal Communication Commission’s merger clock counting the days the agency has spent reviewing the proposed Comcast-NBC Universal merger. The FCC says it tries to act on merger applications within 180 days. The clock is now at “Day 215″ — more than a month of working days past its self-professed goal. (more)
1.) Feds may have to bail out Detroit for a second time — If the federal government decides, in its finite wisdom, that poorly run states and municipalities do not deserve to sink or swim based on the electoral acumen of their residents (or lack thereof), and chooses instead to “bail out” bankrupt members of the American federation, there will be some irony in the decision. In Detroit, two of the city’s public pensions are under investigation for “risky investing” that cost the two funds $480 million in three years. According to the Detroit Free Press, “many of the investments involved secretive middlemen, who pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars, or were vetted by controversial investment adviser Adrian Anderson and his firm, North Point Advisors.” Anderson is currently under investigation by the SEC, but has not been charged. In the meantime, “the pensions are paying the legal bills of Anderson and a second adviser who scrutinized failed real estate deals.” Have you heard the one about the burglar who fell through the woman’s skylight and then demanded that she pay for his medical bills? This is sort of like that. (more)
WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski proposed approving Comcast Corp.’s deal to acquire control of NBC Universal from General Electric Co. (more)
Here’s what will most likely happen today: In the morning, the five members of the Federal Communications Commission will gather in a big room. The two Republican commissioners will read aloud passionate statements opposing the Democrats’ obsession with fixing a thing that is not broken. The three Democratic commissioners will read aloud passionate statements commending one another for saving the Internet from a dystopian future conjured out of whole cloth by paranoid public interest groups. (more)
Just two months after Rep. Henry Waxman drafted, then abandoned, a hotly contested net neutrality bill, the FCC will present its own net neutrality policy in a December 21 meeting. (more)
Comcast Corp. has begun imposing a fee on Internet middleman Level 3 Communications Inc., one of the companies that Netflix Inc. has hired to deliver movies and TV shows to Web customers. (more)
Donovan McNabb shined with his arm early and legs late, Michael Vick sustained a bruising injury, and Kevin Kolb got back on the field Sunday in a 17-12 Eagles loss that – after a long week of talk – left plenty more to discuss. (more)
Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, told the company’s employees in an e-mail Friday morning that he would step down from his position upon the completion of the takeover of NBC by Comcast. (more)
Free Press, the public face of the net neutrality movement, is a moral see-saw when it comes to transparency. (more)
