Last summer, an independent ad industry watchdog group recommended that Comcast put an end to questionable claims that it offers the “fastest internet in America” and the “fastest in-home WiFi,” but the ever-stubborn Comcast refused to abide by that decision and appealed… only to once again be told to just give it up already. [More]
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Ad Watchdog Once Again Asks Comcast To Stop Boasting About Having Fastest Internet & In-Home WiFi
By 2.8.17
Comcast Launching Xfinity App For Roku, But Not Ditching Set-Top Box Just Yet
By 1.31.17
With the FCC officially dropping set-top box reform from its agenda, the best we can hope for is a gradual shift toward app-based access to pay-TV programming. Comcast and Roku helped nudge things an inch in that direction today, announcing an Xfinity TV app that comes with as many questions as it does benefits. [More]
Comcast Says It Will Launch Wireless Service In “Middle Of The Year”
By 1.26.17
Comcast had a lot to brag about this morning when it unveiled its latest quarterly earnings: revenue is up; cord-cutting has stalled (for now); and the company’s share price is high enough for a split, doubling the number of shares to more than 4.7 billion. But the question on a number of investors’ lips today was “When is Comcast launching its wireless service?” [More]
Verizon Reportedly Interested In Buying Comcast Or Other Big Cable Company
By 1.17.17
AT&T has been on a buying spree in the last two years, first snatching up DirecTV and its more than 20 million customers, and now trying to acquire the massive Time Warner media empire. The company’s nemeses at Verizon apparently have acquisition envy, and are mulling over a purchase of a cable biggie like Comcast or Charter. [More]
Senators Question Comcast, Charter About “Broadcast TV” & “Regional Sports” Fees
By 1.5.17
The 115th Congress only just came into town and got properly sworn in and down to business on Tuesday, but returning members aren’t wasting any time picking their favorite projects back up. And so, only a few days into the new year, a pair of senators are turning on Charter and Comcast to ask what, exactly, those two think they’re doing with their pricing schemes. [More]
Comcast Snaps Up Watchwith So It Can Tell You What’s Happening Inside Your Show
By 1.5.17
It doesn’t seem like much of a story, at first: a giant tech conglomerate has quietly acquired a smaller, newer company that does things kind of like what the big company already does. It’s basically the story of the entire 21st century world of tech in a nutshell. But with every new set of players comes a new set of concerns. [More]
30 Stories We Didn’t Expect To Write In 2016
By 12.30.16
As a wise internet meme once said, some things are worth waiting for. Often, we end up waiting for them for so long, that when they finally do come to pass, we can’t help but be a bit shocked. And some things… Well, we never expected in the first place. [More]
Comcast Unable To Shut Down Lawsuit Over “Deceptive” Service Protection Plans & Fees
By 12.27.16
In August, Washington state sued Comcast, alleging that the cable giant had deceived hundreds of thousands of customers in the state about an add-on service intended to cover the cost of service calls. Comcast later sought to have the case dismissed, calling it a “profound mischaracterization” of the company’s business practices, but the court recently allowed the matter to move forward over Comcast’s objections. [More]
Comcast Apologizes For Tech Crew Whose Truck May Have Caused Multiple Accidents
By 12.14.16
Earlier today, we told you about the Comcast tech crew in Indiana that was recorded showing an apparent disregard for the many drivers who ran off the road or collided while trying to get around a Comcast repair truck parked in the street. Now, Comcast HQ is issuing an “our bad” and promising to use this latest PR debacle as a teachable situation for its employees to prevent future incidents. [More]
UPDATED: Comcast Workers Don’t Seem To Care That Their Truck May Have Caused Half-Dozen Accidents
By 12.14.16
[This story has been updated with a statement from Comcast]
Perhaps the most-common complaint we hear about Comcast repair crews is their absence: just getting one to come can sometimes be a challenge. But when there is actually a repair crew in your neighborhood, you would expect them to, y’know, maybe care if their presence causes a half-dozen car accidents. And yet, video appears to show a Comcast crew in Indiana acting with indifference to the vehicular chaos apparently triggered by their presence. [More]
Happy New Year, Comcast Customers: Your ‘Broadcast TV’ & ‘Regional Sports’ Fees Are Going Up 50%
By 12.13.16
The new year brings new things, and at this point it’s all but traditional for cable and satellite companies to announce customers will face higher charges in January than in the December before. But Comcast isn’t just increasing its bundle rates a few percentage points in 2017; it’s going to significantly increase how much all of its pay-TV customers pay for a pair of highly controversial fees. [More]
Comcast Takes Six Months To Refund $2000 It Shouldn’t Have Charged To Begin With
By 12.12.16
When you turn off your cable service, you shouldn’t continue to be charged to TV and internet you aren’t receiving. And if some error allows for those charge to continue piling up, you’d expect that fixing the problem should be a no-brainer. Yet, as one condo association recently found out, Comcast has a way of defying expectations. [More]
Comcast Exec Admits That Net Neutrality Is Not As Scary As Industry Made It Out To Be
By 12.9.16
When the FCC finalized its new “net neutrality” rules in 2015, adding more regulatory control over broadband data services, the cable industry freaked out. Its biggest player, Comcast, claimed at the time that the federal oversight would be counterproductive, ineffective, and unlawful. Fast forward to present day, and one Comcast executive is admitting that these changes haven’t really had any effect on business. [More]
Analyst: How Much Does Comcast Lose If You Cut The Cord? Less Than $6 A Month
By 12.1.16 — Updated: 12.2.16
With services like DirecTV Now, Dish’s Sling TV, and PlayStation Vue proliferating everywhere, it seems as if finally the age of the cord-cutter is going mainstream. A subscriber who cuts out their pay-TV service could see their bill drop by $50 or $100 in a month — but does that mean your cable company is losing that much revenue from you? One major industry analyst thinks it’s not even close. [More]
Nashville Asks Court To Dismiss Comcast’s Google-Fiber-Blocking Lawsuit
By 12.1.16
It’s time for the next episode of everyone’s favorite legal drama, “Comcast and AT&T do everything they can to block Google Fiber from coming to Nashville.” Most court proceedings are a months- or years-long series of back-and-forth filings before any hearings on the merits ever take place, and this one is no exception. This time around, it’s Nashville’s turn to ask the court to hear it out. [More]
Why Is Comcast Putting Dish’s Sling TV On Its Cable Box?
By 11.23.16
Comcast’s X1 platform is basically a fancy, cloud-based, internet-connected cable box. It may be able to run all kinds of apps, but at its core, it is the set-top device that Comcast pay-TV subscribers get to watch the TV channels that they pay Comcast for. So if your reaction to the news that it’s going to host a streaming pay-TV competitor directly is, “wait, what?!,” you are not alone. [More]
Comcast Stops Offering Gigabit Internet For $70/Month In Cities Near Chicago
By 11.15.16 — Updated: 11.19.16
Earlier this summer, Comcast began offering a new internet service in the greater Chicago area that offers fiberoptic-like speeds but over existing cable lines. Right away, there were questions about the price: In other markets where Comcast sold this service, the rate was only $70/month for people willing to sign a three-year contract, but Chicagoans weren’t initially being offered this discount. Then the company appeared to change its mind, offering that lower rate, though even then there was confusion. Now it looks like that discounted rate is off the table for the handful of Chicago-area cities where it had been an option. [More]
Comcast Lifting Broadband Data Caps In Maine — And Only Maine — Starting Dec. 1
By 11.14.16
We often have news in November about Comcast and data caps. Most years, though, it’s a story about those caps expanding. So it’s unusual, to say the least, to suddenly find Comcast doing away with its data-cap plan for an entire state. The lucky subscribers? Folks up in Maine. [More]
