Comcast

More than 20 years after he last played pro basketball, former Lakers star Magic Johnson is ready for a whole new game: running his own TV network. The Hall of Famer, who has become a successful business mogul, is preparing to launch Aspire, a 24-hour channel with a focus on what Johnson called positive, uplifting images of African Americans. The basic cable outlet will join other channels targeting black viewers, such as BET and TV One, and will offer opportunities for blacks who have struggled to find work in mainstream Hollywood.

BOSTON - Recognizing that many viewers want to watch key events live, in prime time, rather than tape-delayed, NBCUniversal plans to bolster its coverage of the Summer Olympics in London in August by putting 3,000 hours of programming online. The company, which is paying a record $1.18 billion for the rights to broadcast the London Olympics, is challenged to keep the up with the times. The long time zone difference between Britain and the U.S. means that key events will be broadcast when most Americans are not in front of their TVs. And increasingly, consumers are watching programming online, prompting NBC to make changes to its playbook.

America's largest cable operator and largest online video company are heating up the battle for the country's eyeballs. Comcast Corp. unveiled plans Tuesday to launch an online video-on-demand subscription service featuring thousands of TV re-runs and older movies for a flat monthly fee. Netflix Inc., the pioneer of that business, announced a deal to stream movies from Weinstein Co., including the Oscar favorite "The Artist. " The flurry of announcements demonstrates the fervor with which traditional video providers like Comcast and cutting-edge ones like Netflix are seeking to attract and retain consumers who have a growing number of entertainment viewing options.

Comcast Corp.'s first-quarter earnings jumped nearly 30% as more customers signed up for high-speed Internet service. The Philadelphia cable giant also showed revenue growth in some unexpected units: its long-lagging NBC network and Universal Pictures. For the quarter that ended March 31, the company's net income grew to $1.22 billion, or 45 cents a share, from $943 million, or 34 cents a share, a year earlier. Comcast — which generated consolidated revenue of $14.88 billion, an increase of 23% — beat analysts' estimates.

As speculation continues to swirl around Hulu, one of its corporate owners is forced to sit on the sidelines having no role in the fate of the popular online video site even though the outcome could greatly affect its own future. That's the position Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable and broadband operator, finds itself in with regard to Hulu, which has retained investment bankers to explore a possible sale of the company. Whereas Hulu's other majority owners — Walt Disney Co. and News Corp.

Comcast Corp. has amassed the country's largest cable TV operation, serving nearly one out of every four homes that pays for television programming. Yet it's not satisfied just to pipe entertainment and information to subscribers' TV sets and computers. It wants to own more of the content flowing through the systems it has built in California and 38 other states. Its latest gambit is a bid to control the entertainment assets of NBC Universal, including the NBC television network and Universal Studios.

Comcast Corp. plans to become the first major cable TV operator to roll out wireless broadband service outside of Wi-Fi hot spots. The Philadelphia-based company said it would launch the service today in Portland, Ore., with at least three other cities -- Philadelphia, Atlanta and Chicago -- to follow this year. The service, which uses WiMax technology, offers speeds of up to 4 megabits per second, faster than any comparable non-Wi-Fi service being marketed.

Comcast Corp. beat analysts' estimates with a 26% increase in fourth-quarter profit, but two NBCUniversal units continued to struggle: the NBC broadcast network and Universal Pictures. For the quarter that ended Dec. 31, the Philadelphia cable television giant posted net income of $1.29 billion, or 47 cents a share, compared with $1.02 billion, or 36 cents, for the year-earlier period. Revenue climbed 3% to $15 billion. Once again, the company's core business of providing bundles of cable TV channels and high-speed Internet service bolstered its financial results.

When it comes to the purchase of media companies, timing is key. Comcast Corp. on Wednesday delivered strong second-quarter earnings, led by the company's core businesses of providing cable television and high-speed Internet service to its more than 20 million customers. But its newly acquired media company, NBCUniversal, also shone, as each of its entertainment divisions turned in double-digit revenue growth. NBCUniversal revenue jumped 17% — a much stronger performance than the company mustered in recent quarters when General Electric Co. was in control.

New Year's Day will mark the end of one of the unhappiest decades ever for the entertainment industry -- a span that saw piracy skyrocketing, music sales plummeting, home video revenue shrinking, mega-mergers going sour and audiences dwindling. The new millennium coincided with the dawn of a new digital era, one that empowers consumers and creators at the expense of the conglomerates that own much of the programming people watch on their television sets and listen to in their cars. Nevertheless, executives at Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV operator, believe it's a propitious time to take over NBC Universal, owner of the also-ran NBC network and hit-starved Universal Studios.

The Federal Communications Commission has ruled in favor of Bloomberg Television in its bitter fight with Comcast Corp. over where its business channel was carried on the cable giant's systems. In a ruling issued by the agency's Media Bureau on Wednesday, the FCC agreed with Bloomberg that Comcast is required to place the business network in the same neighborhood as other news channels, particularly those owned by Comcast, including CNBC and MSNBC. "We agree with Bloomberg that the plain language of the condition suggests that the commission intended that the condition would apply to Comcast's existing channel lineups," the FCC said.

Comcast Corp.'s highest-paid executives — Chief Executive Brian Roberts and NBCUniversal chief Steve Burke — experienced compensation deflation last year. Roberts' pay package shrank 13.3% in 2011 to $26.9 million. That included a performance-based cash bonus of $5.5 million for the 52-year-old executive. Meanwhile, Burke's compensation dropped a whopping 32% to $23.7 million, which included a performance bonus of $6.7 million. The 53-year-old executive's amount fell dramatically last year, as it was the first time in three years that he did not collect a signing bonus.

WASHINGTON - Verizon Wireless plans to sell billions of dollars' worth of prime airwaves if regulators approve its planned purchases of new chunks of spectrum primarily from large cable companies. Verizon, which paid about $4.4 billion in 2008 in a government auction of coveted airwaves in the 700-megahertz band, said it no longer would need that spectrum to deploy its fourth-generation LTE network if the cable deals are approved. Among the spectrum Verizon plans to sell are swaths covering Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and other major metropolitan areas.

America's largest cable operator and largest online video company are heating up the battle for the country's eyeballs. Comcast Corp. unveiled plans Tuesday to launch an online video-on-demand subscription service featuring thousands of TV re-runs and older movies for a flat monthly fee. Netflix Inc., the pioneer of that business, announced a deal to stream movies from Weinstein Co., including the Oscar favorite "The Artist. " The flurry of announcements demonstrates the fervor with which traditional video providers like Comcast and cutting-edge ones like Netflix are seeking to attract and retain consumers who have a growing number of entertainment viewing options.

More than 20 years after he last played pro basketball, former Lakers star Magic Johnson is ready for a whole new game: running his own TV network. The Hall of Famer, who has become a successful business mogul, is preparing to launch Aspire, a 24-hour channel with a focus on what Johnson called positive, uplifting images of African Americans. The basic cable outlet will join other channels targeting black viewers, such as BET and TV One, and will offer opportunities for blacks who have struggled to find work in mainstream Hollywood.

Comcast Corp. beat analysts' estimates with a 26% increase in fourth-quarter profit, but two NBCUniversal units continued to struggle: the NBC broadcast network and Universal Pictures. For the quarter that ended Dec. 31, the Philadelphia cable television giant posted net income of $1.29 billion, or 47 cents a share, compared with $1.02 billion, or 36 cents, for the year-earlier period. Revenue climbed 3% to $15 billion. Once again, the company's core business of providing bundles of cable TV channels and high-speed Internet service bolstered its financial results.

Comcast Corp. reported sharply higher fourth-quarter earnings, propelled mainly by a boost in broadband and phone revenue, and unveiled a new brand for its core cable TV operations as it transforms into a media conglomerate. On the eve of congressional hearings on its proposed purchase of a controlling stake in NBC Universal, Comcast said it would change the name of its cable TV, Internet and phone services to XFinity. The new brand will roll out in 11 markets Feb. 12 and expand nationally thereafter.

The Federal Communications Commission has ruled in favor of Bloomberg Television in its bitter fight with Comcast Corp. over where its business channel was carried on the cable giant's systems. In a ruling issued by the agency's Media Bureau on Wednesday, the FCC agreed with Bloomberg that Comcast is required to place the business network in the same neighborhood as other news channels, particularly those owned by Comcast, including CNBC and MSNBC. "We agree with Bloomberg that the plain language of the condition suggests that the commission intended that the condition would apply to Comcast's existing channel lineups," the FCC said.

Entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal enabling Comcast Corp. cable customers access to all its popular channels — including ESPN, ABC, ABC Family and the Disney Channel — from portable devices and video-on-demand services. The comprehensive 10-year agreement announced Wednesday underscores how entrenched media giants are lining up to protect the decades-old pay-TV business model. Several years ago, entertainment companies were divided on whether to offer some of their most valuable programming free on the Internet, through services such as Hulu, in hopes of attracting younger viewers and advertising dollars.

A Federal Communications Commission administrative judge ruled that cable giant Comcast Corp. discriminated against the small, independently owned Tennis Channel by putting it at a competitive disadvantage. Tuesday's ruling marked the first time that an FCC judge has found that a cable operator violated the program carriage anti-discrimination rules, which were established in 1993. Richard L. Sippel, the FCC's chief administrative law judge, ruled that Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV operator, treated the Santa Monica-based Tennis Channel unfairly by positioning it in a more expensive package of cable channels with fewer subscribers.