Comcast could make $550M/year for charging for its once-free digital adapters [Comcast Roundup]

In shift, Comcast now bills for once-free digital adapters [Philadelphia Inquirer] “Comcast, which completed the upgrade in 2012, this month began charging Philadelphia-area subscribers $1.99 per digital-television adapter, or DTA, and is expected to extend the pricing policy to other Comcast TV markets in 2013. Although $2 a month doesn’t sound like much, the cable-TV company deployed 23 million of the adapters in U.S. homes during the several-year upgrade, a top executive said last year. When implemented nationwide, the lease charge could boost Comcast cable revenue $550 million a year.”

When Will the Rest of Us Get Google Fiber? [MIT Technology Review] “In parts of the country, slower-speed copper, fast-download cable, and a few fiber networks are already built out. The cable distribution giants like Time Warner Cable and Comcast are already making a 97 percent margin on their ‘almost comically profitable’ Internet services, according to Craig Moffet, an analyst at the Wall Street firm Bernstein Research. As Levin points out, ‘If you are making that kind of margin, it’s hard to improve it.’ And most Americans have no choice but to deal with their local cable company.”

Liberty Global could eclipse Comcast with $23.3 billion deal to acquire Virgin Media [FierceCable] “Liberty Global said late Tuesday that it agreed to buy Virgin Media for $23.3 billion in stock and cash. The deal could see Liberty reach more than 25 million subscribers in 14 countries, eclipsing the 22.3 million subscribers that Comcast counted at the end of the third quarter. Liberty is run by cable pioneer John Malone, whose former Tele-Communications Inc. cable systems are now controlled mostly by Comcast.”

NBC content to stream in 1,200 Phila. taxis [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Comcast, Verizon say no thanks to Lehigh Valley expansion [Allentown Morning Call] “Verizon says it has no intention of expanding its FiOS product to the Lehigh Valley beyond the Allentown area it moved into four years ago. Comcast, another Internet-cable-phone service giant, says it isn’t planning to enter territories in Lehigh and Northampton counties dominated by Service Electric and RCN.”

COMCAST Launches Internet Site for Black History Month [NewsOne]

Ted Leonsis on Comcast SportsNet and Monumental Network [Washington Post] “‘We need to generate more revenues,’ Leonsis said on WTOP Wednesday morning, when asked about the new Monumental Network. ‘It’s pretty simple. We’re all in that business. We have to pay our employees more money, we have to continue to grow….And right now, we have a great relationship with Comcast SportsNet. Fantastic. They’re great, great partners. But they don’t pay us enough money.'”

30 Rock Gets In One Last Comcast Dig Before Going Off The Air [The Consumerist]