Comcast

BOSTON -- Comcast Corp. said it has struck a deal to carry Outside Television, a cable network based on the magazine Outside, which focuses on skiing, hiking, surfing and other outdoor activities. Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, said it will carry Outside Television on several of its systems across the country including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Portland, Ore., and San Francisco. Outside was created in 2010. The network will be placed on a specialty tier of sports and lifestyle channels on Comcast, company officials said.

BOSTON -- Next time you shake your iPhone at the television, you could end up freezing the screen. Cable giant Comcast Corp., which has more than 20 million subscribers and is the nation's largest cable operator, is showcasing new technologies at the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. trade show here -- including an app that enables people to use motions and gestures as signals to control their televisions. Comcast has already been working on making iPhones, iPads and other devices into remote controls.

Comcast is removing a cap on Internet usage and may charge heavy broadband users more under a new policy that's likely to ease but not end its feud with Netflix. The nation's largest cable company said Thursday that it will end a 250-gigabytes-per-month cap on the amount of data Internet subscribers can access. While "very few" users come close to that cap -- an executive declined to specify the percentage, but said half use fewer than 10 GB - it is starting to become a concern for the small percentage who stream or download huge amounts of video.

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.

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.