Comcast Roundup: In bed with Time Warner, Comcast Idol and More

Every Thursday morning, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup.
In Comcast news big enough to get Philebrity’s Joey Sweeney to bite, Comcast has reached a partnership with Time Warner to put content from their Turner Broadcasting online, where Comcast-subscribers can watch, as the Business Journal reported yesterday.
The agreement also included a set of principles for future online distribution of TV shows on a platform they call TV Everywhere, which require viewer authentication. Read those guiding principles here.
In the announcement, Comcast said it will begin testing next month this On Demand Online with 5,000 subscribers. The initial Turner programmaing will include content from TBS and TNT. No word on if you’ll be able to get those old reruns of Walker Texas Ranger.
This model is seen as a direct threat to advertising-supported Web TV streaming sites like Hulu, as Wired reported. Paid Content reports that Comcast got a taste for that model from ESPN360 in its partnership with Disney.
The Inquirer’s Joe Distefano, who offered the news a brief, recently reported on timid speculation about a Comcast merger with Time Warner.
After the jump, someone else has an interview with Brian Roberts, Verizon gets faster, video of Comcast Idol participants, and four other Comcast stories for the faithful.
In order of importance for your ease:

• The Boston Globe has a Q&A with Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts, in which he says, “Do I hear of some mistakes? Yes.” Feel free to finish that with a punchline in the comments.
• Bobbie Fernandez over at the Inquirer reports that DirecTV has relatively quietly grown its list of subscribers to 18 million, nearing the Comcast behemoth. Add them to Verizon and apparently Hulu as combatants.
• Multichannel News reports that in at least 10 markets, including Philadelphia, Baltimore and D.C., Comcast will host commercials advertising FiOS TV, the golden product of rival Verizon.
• In other Verizon news, the Business Journal’s Peter Key says Verizon has announced opening its fastest digital subscriber service to nearly a quarter million more Pennsylvanians.
• And because Scott McNulty at the Comcast Voices corporate blog never fails to post something I feel compelled to share, the telecommunications giant hosted a Comcast Idol competition for its employees and, yes, I swear, all five finalists actually produced creative and entertaining songs about their company. Unsurprisingly, the boys from San Fran who played it nearest to the Comcast Dream Big theme won, but, below, watch my favorite, “I Love Comcast,” a beauty from a Michigan crew that gives a nod to our friend and social media whore Asher Roth.

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