Comcast and NBC buy MSNBC.com for $300 million [Comcast Roundup]

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• Comcast takes over MSNBC.com; content will reflect cable channel MSNBC  [Philadelphia Inquirer] “Comcast and NBC bought out Microsoft’s 50 percent stake in MSNBC.com for a reported $300 million late last week. Readers logging on to MSNBC.com on Monday were redirected to NBCNews.com, a new website. NBC officials would not comment on the financial terms of buying out their 16-year partner in the venture. … In financial terms, this was a minor transaction for Comcast, which has a stock-market capitalization of about $85 billion.”

• Comcast says government needs to stay out of programming business [LA Times] “At issue is how Comcast offers the Tennis Channel as opposed to similar cable networks that it owns. Last December, an FCC administrative judge ruled that Comcast had discriminated against the small, independently owned Tennis Channel by putting it at a competitive disadvantage. It did so, the judge said, by not placing the Tennis Channel in the same package of channels in which Comcast sold its own Golf Network and NBC Sports Network.”
• Comcast strikes deal with Scripps Networks [Knoxville News Sentinel] “Comcast has inked a long-term content deal with Scripps Networks Interactive to expand programming access through TV Everywhere, a concept that allows customers to watch whenever they want, wherever they want.”
• Comcast’s Jennifer Yohe Wagner Named 2012 ‘Women In Technology’ Winner [Cable360]
• Thomas J. Wlodkowski Joins Comcast Cable as Vice President of Accessibility [BusinessWire]
• Cable TV Firms Step Up Bidding For Sports Content [Investor’s Business Daily] “By bidding on new deals, Comcast and Time Warner Cable — which pay fees to show content — are driving sports programming costs even higher. Their game plan: lock in subscribers with sports fare as competition mounts with online streaming video and consumer viewing habits shift.”
• Goffstown to renegotiate pact for services with Comcast [Union Leader]