Comcast Roundup: Earnings call news, Godzilla law suit and More

Every Thursday morning, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup.
No shortage of perspective came out of Comcast’s Q2 earnings call last week.
Largely on the back of higher prices, the Associated Press writes that our own MSO reported earning $967 million this second quarter over the same period last year, a 53 percent increase. That beat estimates from two dozen analysts, reports the Philadelphia Business Journal, though the boom was related to favorable settlements regarding state and federal taxes.
Dudes from Reuters, ever the downers, reported that that higher-than-expected profit came against losing more video subscribers than guesses had suggested. They blamed the loss on the weak economy and continued competition from phone and satellite companies.
The Washington Post ran with a MocoNews report focusing on Comcast’s Clearwire partnership to bring 4G wireless broadband, which we reported is beginning in Portland, Ore. and Atlanta. Are they worried about sharing the new market with wireless companies like Verizon?
“I’m not sure how quickly they’ll roll that out,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said on the call. “They’re barely deployed to 3G and it’s an open question as to what the return on capital would if they completely go to the next generation.”
After the jump, Comcast owns Vonage, a lawsuit about Godzilla and three other stories for the faithful.

• The Silicon Alley Insider reports that, despite Vonage’s place as the leader in Internet phone service, it has been more than overcome by cable industry players, notably Comcast.
• The Business Insider blog also reports on the trend of those cable giants losing out in the living room to a variety of streaming Web-based services.
• Broadband DSL Reports posts that Comcast is being sued over its use of a Godzilla-like character in its Comcast Town advertising campaign.
• Multichannel News reports that an arm of the FCC has said Comcast doesn’t have to carry the regional Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. MASN has alleged discrimination from Comcast. The ‘Cast has refused to carry the channel, an interesting play for a cable operator that also involves itself in content creation. That’s something to watch.
• PC Mag reports that Comcast e-mail went down for at least one hour Tuesday morning, following a several hour break in coverage in April.

When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there to fill your every Comcast desire or fantasy.