Comcast Roundup: NBC deal facing long review, Comcast dabbles in Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger and More

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

• Reuters reports that Comcast’s deal to take from General Electric a majority stake in NBC Universal seems increasingly likely but that its acceptance will then be slowed by a lengthy review process, not only by the FCC but by congressional committees beginning the long haul to midterm elections.
• In an excellent piece of business journalism, the New York Times runs a top notch profile of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and his path through content courting. Read this, my friends.
• Not to be outdone, the LA Times has its own piece of long-form Comcast business journalism, chronicling how the NBC Universal purchase would make it an elite “major global communications player.”
• Bloomberg News reports that Comcast is working with Ticketmaster and Live Nation on salvaging their mega merger that is now under U.S. antitrust scrutiny. Does that merger still sound crazy to you? Read this excellent Philadelphia Weekly cover story on it from the alt weekly’s music editor Brian McManus.

After the jump Verizon FiOS swiping Comcast customers in Chestnut Hill and video of a Comcast executive talking about TV Everywhere.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

• The Inquirer’s Bob Fernandez reports that Verizon has rolled out FiOS TV and Internet in Chestnut Hill, North and South Philadelphia and takes all of two paragraphs to suggest it’s stealing customers from Comcast.
• The Inquirer reports that Vivendia, the French media company with a 20 percent stake in NBC Universal, won its bidding war over a Brazilian telephone operator, suggesting the company will be interested in the capital investment from losing NBC.
• The Associated Press suggests that these NBC talks cap a decades-long rise for Comcast. The AP also creates a timeline of important dates in the development of Comcast.
• Washington Post tech blogger Cecilia Kang reports that Comcast and a host of other cable and telecom companies have called on the FCC to drop a broadband study that favors more open broadband policy.
• The Business Insider suggests an altogether unlikely move to flip NBC and cable channel USA content, creating an effective paywall to bring viewers to a higher grade of cable.

GIVE A GLANCE

• Eight Comcast vans idling at midnight early this morning in a small parking lot just above the Frankford Creek along the Avenue last night and nothing but a death stare when asked why the crowd. Any hints on what that was about?
• The Business Insider reports that News Corp. COO Chase Carey, in addition to calling for a paid Hulu model, said the Comcast-NBC deal makes lots of sense for Comcast.
• The Inquirer reports that a Washington-based advocacy group has criticized the proposed NBC takeover as leading to reduced consumer choice. Young Philly Politics runs an essay blasting the likely Comcast takeover of NBC, as written by Gwen Shaffer.
• Fierce Wireless reports that Comcast has confirmed work on WiMAX femtocells, which, we’re told, suggests the company is looking into expanding wireless broadband. Maybe that’s why the company was so peeved with some federal broadband stimulus proposals. H/T Philly Tech News.

EHome Upgrade has video of Comcast’s Amy Banse describing the company’s “TV Everywhere” platform. H/T PTN
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When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST