Comcast says it will launch super-fast gigabit internet this year [Comcast Roundup]

• Comcast Says It’ll Offer Gigabit Internet This Year [Gizmodo]: “In an exciting if suspicious announcement today, Comcast, everybody’s least favorite company, just told an audience at CES that it would start offering home customers gigabit internet speedsin 2015. That’s this year! And, well, we’ll believe it when we see it. The Comcast exec’s announcement came in conjunction with a Broadcom event showcasing the new DOCSIS 3.1 chip which enables speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second. Both Comcast and Liberty Global were there to support Broadcom’s new technology, and Comcast sort of stole the show.”
• Dish’s Sling TV will have appeal, analysts say [Philadelphia Inquirer]: “Analysts say the new $20-a-month Dish Network streaming service is surprisingly robust with live sports – with ESPN and ESPN2, in addition to TNT and TBS – and is targeted at young adults and cost-conscious consumers. But it’s not a slam dunk in taking millions of customers away from providers such as Comcast Corp.”
• Google, Amazon Get Query From U.S. on Comcast’s Cable Merger [Bloomberg]: “Regulators probing Comcast Corp.’s proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc. have asked Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. whether they pay Internet service providers to deliver online videos to customers. The Federal Communications Commission in letters posted on its website this week asked the content companies to list which cable and telephone companies they pay. Questions from the agency included how customers respond to poor video quality, and how demand for Google’s YouTube and Amazon.com’s Prime Instant Video is affected by available broadband speeds.”
• Comcast-Time Warner Deal Tops A Year Of Corporate Mergers [NPR]
• What you can do about Comcast raising its modem fees to $10 a month [GeekWire]: “Happy New Year! Your Comcast cable modem will soon cost $10 a month to rent, up from the previous $8 fee.”
• Man Chronicles Grueling 4 Hours On The Phone Trying To Cancel His Comcast Account [Business Insider]
• Comcast rates rising 3.4 percent [Philadelphia Inquirer]: “The higher bills affect customers who subscribe to TV, Internet, or phone services, company spokesman Jeff Alexander said. The nation’s largest pay-TV company has told Wall Street that it earns $137 a month from “customer relationships” – a 3.4 percent rate increase on $137 amounts to an additional $4.65 a month.”
• Cooper University Health Care Advances Patient Services with Comcast Business [press release]
• Comcast hosted a Celebrity Apprentice viewing party for the Neat Company [Technical.ly Philly]

.@Kateplusmy8 watching a search for her name on the X1 operating system at our #CelebApprentice viewing party. pic.twitter.com/clcmdzWkfe

— Comcast (@comcast) January 6, 2015