Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has started warning users about the 250GB download cap that they have implemented to their customers.  This 250GB cap was added to their Acceptable Use Policy.  Comcast confirmed the cap on August 28, 2008 and it is officially going into effect on October 1, 2008.  Comcast reported that the median household downloads about 2 or 3GB per month. 

For a user to hit 250GB downloads, they’d have to send over 50 million plain text emails per month, download at least 62,500 songs, or download 125 2GB sized movies.  

Below is the full e-mail that Comcast sent to high speed Internet customers:
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Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has acquired DailyCandy, a newsletter service that sends daily e-mails and text messages to subscribers interested in activities happening at major cities. 

There are specific city editions that include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and D.C.  There are kid versions available for all of these cities as well.  DailyCandy also sends out Travel deals and coupons everyday to subscribers. 

DailyCandy wrote a book called The DailyCandy Lexicon: Words That Don’t Exist But Should.  One sample lexicon used in the book includes “textual frustration: a late-night text exchange that fails to result in old-fashioned lip-locking [CNET].”  DailyCandy employs about 55 people and Pilot Group Ventures owned a majority of the company

DailyCandy has also expanded to six additional categories that includes: fashion, beauty & fitness, lifestyle, house & home, food & drink and arts & culture

The acquisition price for Dailycandy was $125 million.  Bob Pittman of the Pilot Group stated that DailyCandy was close to hitting $25 million in revenues this year and well over $10 million EBITDA. 

“I have been associated with the start-up, turnaround or acceleration of many companies and major brands, and rarely have I seen the kind of creativity, commitment and passion I’ve seen day in and day out at DailyCandy,” stated Pittman.  “And the results speak for themselves: since we made our investment in 2003, subscriptions have grown from just over 200,000 to over 2.5 million.”

Rumor also has it that Comcast beat Viacom for this deal. 

Related Links:
1. DailyCandy
2. Silicon Alley Insider
3. paidContent

 
Often times I am irked by policies and bills laid out by the government such as telecommunication company immunity for wire tapping, but today I was actually impressed by a government decision made.  The FCC told the Associated Press that Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was wrong for interfering with BitTorrent traffic.

“The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers access to the Internet,” stated FCC Chairman, Kevin Martin. “We found that Comcast’s actions in this instance violated our principles.”

Comcast indicated that they block BitTorrent traffic when there were heavy periods of Internet traffic, but it turns out that this was a façade.  Comcast blocked upstream BitTorrent traffic all the time. 

Comcast denied the allegations.  Sena Fitzmaurice, a spokeswoman for Comcastcast stated that the company “carefully limited measures that Comcast takes to manage traffic on its broadband network are a reasonable part” of making sure that customers get quality service.

Marvin Ammori, General Counsel at Free Press filed the complaint with the FCC.  In response to the FCC decision, Ammori stated “The FCC now appears ready to take action on behalf of consumers. This is an historic test for whether the law will protect the open Internet. If the commission decisively rules against Comcast, it will be a remarkable victory for organized people over organized money.” 

The whole investigation started when Robb Topolski, a barbershop quartet singer attempted to share legal music files with others.  Robb found that Comcast was blocking his uploads.  Check out the video below to hear Robb speak about his evidence on Comcast.

 

Related Links
1. Associated Press
2. TorrentFreak

“We think the combination of Plaxo and Comcast together can supercharge both of our products,” stated Sam Schwartz, EVP of Comcast Interactive Media. “Comcast is looking at Plaxo to become the social media backbone of its products.”

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA), the $66 billion U.S. cable operating company is acquiring Plaxo Inc. Comcast will be taking Plaxo technology and encourage their 24.1 million clients base to synchronize address books and socialize on the network. The Plaxo social network will be integrated in other Comcast properties: Comcast.net, Fancast.com, and Fandango.com.

Plaxo is based in Mountain View, Calif. and has previous investments from Cisco Systems Inc. and former Yahoo! CEO, Tim Koogle.  Comcast will allow the team to maintain operations in California even though the cable company is based in Philadelphia.

The acquisition price was undisclosed, but it is rumored thatt the amount was around $150-$170 million.

Plaxo technology is already running on Comcast.net.

“Right now on Plaxo you have a lot of people who are sharing photos,” stated Plaxo CEO, Ben Golub . “On Comcast, you … also share them with your grandmother when she turns on the TV.”

ValleyWag was the first to speculate the acquisition possibility in February 2008.

Information Source:
[1] Associated Press:  Comcast to acquire contact manager Plaxo by Deborah Yao

Wasserman Media Group is rumored to be in talks with Comcast, ESPN, and FOX about a potential acquisition or investment for Sportnet.  Sportnet started in 2005 and is one of WMG’s subsidiaries.  WMG is one of the largest sports agencies with offices based in Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., Charlotte, Carlsbad, and London. 

Sportnet was founded to aggregate websites and advertisers across various sports websites including motocross.com, and ryansheckler.com.  Montgomery & Co. has valuated Sportnet at $50 million.  WMG has also previously invested in Prep Sports Online and TAKKLE, two high school sports networks.

Information Source:
[1] paidContent: Wasserman May Sell Or Get Invetsment For Sportnet Online Sports Network

Amount Involved: Undisclosed
World Golf Tour is a social network for golfers who has raised funding from Battery Ventures.  The amount has not been disclosed.

The social network allows golf enthusiasts to enter tournaments, win prizes, and practice on virtual courses.

World Golf Tour is managed by J.F. Prata.  Prata was a previous VP of Product Development at EA.  Prata was also the COO at Maxis and Westwood Studios.

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Amount Involved: $25.79 Million
ChoiceStream Inc. is a leading provider of search engine personalization raised $25.79 million for its product, a search engine that personalizes online entertainment content.  This is ChoiceStream’s third round of funding.  The second round was $13.1 million.  ChoiceStream was founded by Michael Strickman and he is also the CTO.

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Amount Involved: $675,000
BioWizard Inc. is an online information portal that closed its first round of funding.  The amount was for $675,000 in Series A Preferred Stock.  The investor is MentorTech Ventures. ”MentorTech Ventures brings much more than the financial capital. The team’s substantial intellectual and social capital is a valuable asset that we plan to leverage as we continue to build the company,” stated Jeffrey Boily, the chairman of BioWizard. “MentorTech has industry extensive experience and strong relationships with the business and scientific communities to assist us in reaching our full growth potential. This new financing will support our ongoing efforts to add new functionality to our site and
increase our brand awareness in the scientific and medical markets.”What makes BioWizard Web 2.0ish is that the company has implemented a Digg-like voting feature for articles that are pulled.  It appears that a majority of the articles on the frontpage are pulled from the National Institute of Health website.

 

“There is a significant demand in the biomedical research community for an interactive web community like BioWizard,” mentioned Michael Aronson, the managing director of MentorTech Ventures.  Aronson is now a BioWizard board member.  “The site offers a unique combination of information and collaboration tools that are not otherwise available to scientists and physicians. Founded by a team of current University of Pennsylvania graduate students, BioWizard is a perfect fit for our portfolio. We look forward to taking an active role in making BioWizard the leading online portal for biomedical research scientists.”

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Amount Involved: Rumored at over $200 Million
Comcast Corporation mentioned last Wednesday that it may buy Fandango, a movie ticketing service website.  The amount is rumored at $200 mill according to Michael Arrington.  Fandango is supposedly also making $50 mill per year. Fandango has raised $60 mill from investors since 2000.  The deal is expected to close before the end of the quarter.  Previous investors of Fandango include Accretive Technology Partners, Cinemark, General Atlantic, Lowes Corporation, and Technology Crossover Ventures.

 

[Source: alarm:clock]