Comcast Roundup: Sea of rumors of NBC Universal purchase and More

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Every few weeks, a single story dominates Comcast news. But few compare to the media hovering over the rumors that Comcast was in talks with General Electric about the wild mega-purchase of NBC Universal — something to the tune of $20 to $35 billion for a 51 percent stake.
So, while a stiff denial came first and all that has since been verified is that Comcast executives — among other suitors — were in the very beginning stages of talks with General Electric about NBCU and that deals like this often fail because of the complexity surrounding them, we can’t possibly ignore the buzz around this.
Thusly, after the jump, we bring you the best of the oh-my-God-could-a-Philadelphia-company-actually-own-one-of-the-most-storied-entertainment-brands-in-the-world hysteria below.

• The New York Times reports that the the deal is all about empire, though earlier reports dampened excitement.
• Business Week reports that Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts urged employees to ignore the rumors of the pending purchase but, in the same e-mail, made clear that the company was on the hunt for real content creators.
• The Silicon Alley Insider writes on what Comcast could offer NBC Universal, and the Wall Street Journal gave reasons to “love” the proposed deal.
• The Inquirer asks the question many are asking, whether a Philadelphia company fits with a Hollywood culture, and also manages to run a story saying what a good fit the two make. It’s all about content, they say.

• The Business Insider wonders if federal regulators would even let a deal like this get through.
• Multichannel News reports on the vagaries of the deal from GEs side, many of which are tenuous at best and are as far-reaching as a French cable channel.
• An L.A. Times editorial doubts the real impact the merger would have on the industry or, really, either company, and a Times story calls Comcast’s chief operations officer Steve Burke the man to watch if the merger actually happened.
• All Things Digital tries to decipher language from Burke in September to find any insight but only conflicting messages appear.
• Barrons writes that the move might bring some investors — who find stability in simpler stream companies — would swap their stock out for a firm like Time Warner, calling it the last “large cap pure play cable stock.”
• The Inquirer reports that Comcast stock took a hit among talk of the deal.
• NPR blog Monkey See gave readers 10 tongue-and-cheek changes to expect if the purchase were to be made, each and every one a grab at popular reasons for hating Comcast — from delayed technicians to payment confusion. I mean, come on, guys, National freakin’ Public Radio is making fun of you.

Oh, and yeah, there was some other Comcast news:

• Daily Finance returns recent conversation about FCC Net Neutrality rulings to Comcast’s suit against FCC’s sanctioning the ISPs controlling of broadband usage.
• Broadcast Newsroom reports that Comcast will donate $1,000 to a homeless shelter in the city whose baseball team wins the NLDS series, the Phillies or the Colorado Rockes — one for us and another game this afternoon.

When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there.