Comcast Corporation is working on a new initiative while partnering with Clearwire Corp. and several other companies that utilize WiMax technologies.  The initiative is the implementation of fourth-generation (4G) broadband services.  People on 3G networks are already able to update their blogs and websites.

But the Comcast High-Speed 2go service will allow those using laptops and netbooks use a wireless connection anywhere in the U.S.  The connection will be available at speeds faster than before.  The download speeds will be about 4 megabits per second compared to the 1-1.5 megabit speeds available on 3G networks.

High-Speed 2go is now available in Portland, Oregon.  The service will be available in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Chicago by the end of the year.  The service will cost $49.99 per month.  A nationwide version will be available for $69.99 per month.

[via Reuters]

Comcast and Sony Electronics has partnered on a new store.  The new store opens in Philadelphia and it will be called Sony Style Comcast Labs.  It will be a store where people can learn about new devices and technologies.  The new store opened yesterday.  It shows off all of Comcast and Sony’s new products and services.

Visitors of the store will be able to check out “The Future of High-Speed Internet” and “The Future of Home Phone Service” presented by Comcast.  At the store, Comcast will be showing up download speeds of 100Mbps which is 20 times the normal speeds.

In the store, Sony features Bravia HD LCD TVs, Vaio PCs and laptops, Handycam camcorders, PSPs, PS3s, and Cyber-shot digital cameras.

[via Engadget]

Comcast Corporation has announced some good news.  Steve Dolcemaschio has been promoted from VP of Finance and Business Operations to Chief Operating Officer.  Dolcemaschio will continue to oversee the finance and business operations of cable networks E!, Style, G4, and FearNet.

Dolcemaschio joined Comcast in 2000 and helped put together the Comcast Entertainment Group in 2006.  Dolcemaschio also oversaw the transition of G4 into Comcast’s Los Angeles headquarters around 2007.  G4  produces interesting technology shows such as Attack of the Show, X-Play, Lost in 2.0, Ninja Warrior, G4 Rewind, etc.

Anyone watching the Super Bowl football game using Comcast in Tucson, Arizona got an eye-full shortly after Larry Fitzgerald caught the ball from QB Kurt Warner giving the Arizona Cardinals a lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers.  This definetely wasn’t a “wardrobe malfunction.”  There was a full 30 seconds of male nudity from adult channel Club Jenna.

Comcast stated that their engineers worked through the night to investigate what actually happened.  Standard broadcast and analog customers were the only one that saw the Club Jenna video clip.  The digital and HD customers were not affected.  It is not yet known how many people actually saw the clip, but now it is in full circulation on the Internet.  The clip originated from NBC station KVOA in Tucson and then traveled through a fiber optic line to Cox Cable Company which then sent the feed to Comcast.  KVOA and Cox stated that the problem was with Comcast, not them.

It is suspected that there was some form of human prank involved with the case.  Otherwise it just coincidentally happened in Arizona after their team took the lead.  If it was really a prank, then it wasn’t a very original one.  I’ve already seen Tyler Durden from The Fight Club do the same thing to movie watchers.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) co-founder Paul Allen invested $7 billion in Charter Communciations.  Fifty-one percent of Charter Communications, competitor of Comcast, is owned by Allen.  Charter is the fourth largest cable operations company in America with about 5.5 million customers across 27 states.  The stock of the company is about 8 cents per share.

Back in 1999, Charter’s stock was about $27.75.  This was around the time that they had their IPO.  Now the communications company may be facing bankruptcy.  Charter CEO Neil Smit stated that the company is negotiating with bondholders and will be trying to roll over debt into new loans payable.  This would swap debt for equity in Charter.  Charter missed paying their debt payment this month and will be seeing another $1.9 billion in debt coming in this year.  Charter has borrowed about $21 billion.  I think it is suffice to say that Paul Allen will not be investing anymore money into the telecomm company.
Other properties that Paul Allen has invested in is the Seattle Seahawks, DreamWorks SKG, the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, USA Networks, CNET, Priceline, Egghead, and Value America.  In 1998, Paul Allen bought Marcus Cable Company for $2.8 billion and paid $4.5 billion for stake in Charter.  Charter ended up acquiring Marcus.

“For over 20 years, I have been talking about and investing in the `wired world,’ a connected future marked by the merger of high-bandwidth data channels, the power of the personal computer, and the availability of compelling content,” stated Allen at the time of the investment.  Charter has never made profit since 1999.

Four former executives at Charter pleaded guilty to inflating revenue, cash flow, and the number of subscribers.  Shareholder lawsuits costed the company $144 million in cash and stock.  Charter CEO Carl Vogel resigned shortly after the controversy.

After Charter introduced their triple play package, subscribers rose once again.  The subscribers paid about $106 per month and the company double operating income to $208 million, but that was all wiped out by $478 million of interest on debt.

Microsoft ended up investing $1 billion in Charter’s biggest competitor in 1997.  Comcast became the nation’s biggest cable company which encourage Microsoft to buy more stock in Comcast in exchange for $5 billion stake in AT&T Broadband in 2002.  Within the last year, Microsoft liquidated all of their shares in Comcast.

[via AP]

Software giant Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has sold off their shares in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) according to a document that was filed with the SEC.  The document was filed last week.  Microsoft divested the remaining stake it had in the Internet service provider company.  The number of shares that Microsoft owned in Comcast amounted to 150 million overall.

The total investment Microsoft made in Comcast was $1 billion in 1997.  Microsoft saw this as a way to help the company build high-speed Internet connections.

“Our vision for connecting the world of PCs and TVs has long included advanced broadband capabilities to deliver video, data, and interactivity to the home,” stated Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and co-founder, regarding the transaction. “Comcast’s integrated approach to cable distribution, programming, and telecommunications complements that vision of linking PCs and TVs.”

It is unclear why Microsoft has decided to pull on their investment.  InformationWeek speculates that it may be regarding the controversy around capping download speeds for P2P services or that Microsoft needs to raise cash for an impending acquisition.

Supposedly Jeff Bewkes (CEO/Chairman of Time Warner), Roy Bostock (Chairman of Yahoo!), and Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft) met at some point last week.

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:
(more…)

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]