Word on the street is that Microsoft is in talks with various content companies, Comcast, and Verizon about getting some TV content for its Xbox Live service. The initial report comes from Bloomberg, which reports that an Xbox Live streaming content service might be announced as early as next week, according to someone who is not authorized to speak publicly on the topic.

According to another report by Digiday, Microsoft is also working on an agreement with Comcast whereby Xbox Live users can sign up (and pay) for Comcast content that can be streamed through the system itself. As for now, Xbox Live users can get streaming content through Netflix or purchase movie and show rentals through the Zune Store. It makes sense though, that Xbox would want to broker some streaming deals of its own so it can get a little closer to the real action (and the real money).

Last Friday, Comcast announced a new initiative that will hopefully make broadband Internet more easily accessible to low-income families. The plan will provide broadband internet at a cost of only $10 per month to families that meet certain requirements regarding income, family size and a few other details. One of the additional requirements is that the family in question has at least one child that is qualified to receive a free school lunch under the NSLP, which gives you general idea of the income level they’re targeting. In addition, families can receive a $149.99 voucher for the purchase of a new computer.

Of course, that is not to say that the offering would be available to all families that might qualify financially. Other requirements include, of course, being in an area where Comcast provides service, not having subscribed to Comcast Internet service in the past 90 days and not having any outstanding balance to Comcast. If you manage to fit all those critera, however, it’s a great deal. As a bonus, Comcast has pretty high and reliable speeds.

Some of the United States’ top Internet service providers, including AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, are set to adopt a new, harsher strategy to handle software piracy. The final agreement between the ISPs and media and entertainment outlets has yet to be signed, but the proposal, which is expected to be reached sometime next month, would have the ISPs adopt a “graduated response,” which is fancy talk for punishments that become harsher as infringers are caught repeating the offense.

The plan outlines various punishments from which the ISPs can choose, including throttling bandwidth speed or limiting web access — something this blogger remembers being enacted on some of his peers around his dorm back in college. Almost hilariously, an example given regarding limiting an infringer’s web access would have the ISP limit said access in such a way where the infinger could only access the top 200 websites until the infringer proves he or she stopped with the piracy. Another awful-sounding punishment would require the infringer to participate in a program that educates them on why piracy and copyright infringement is bad, similar to the course taken when nailed with a traffic ticket. Luckily for both ISPs trying to run a business and copyright infingers who’d like to keep their service, the proposal does not currently require the ISPs to kick infringers off their service.

If implemented, the proposal could have a fairly drastic effect on the piracy community, but as anyone who has been following software piracy over the years knows, pirates tend to be some of the cleverest, quickest-acting people on the Internet, and one can only assume they would eventually find a clever way around ISP monitoring. For more detail on the proposal, check out CNET’s coverage.

(via CNET)

In January, the Federal Communications Commission approved, in a 4-1 vote, a landmark merger between cable and telecommunications giant Comcast and media and entertainment company NBC Universal. Though there were several strings attached — Comcast-NBCU had to cede daily control of Hulu and make stand-alone broadband service available to customers for $49.95/month for the next three years, for instance — observers generally agreed that the newly formed conglomerate would have massive reach and influence.

Now, Meredith Attwell Baker, one of the four FCC commissioners who voted in favor of the merger, has announced that she will be leaving the FCC next month for a lobbying job with Comcast-NBCU following the expiration of her current term.

When “net neutrality” is a matter of defending highfalutin open Internet principles and P2P sites, it’s hard to get average people too excited about it: But threaten their cheap Netflix, and matters get serious. The New York Times reports that Netflix partner Level 3 Communications, which delivers Netflix’s streaming video to customers’ computers, will have to pay recurring additional fees to ISP Comcast for continued carriage of their content. Level 3 is not too happy about this, and says it constitutes an assault on the open Internet and net neutrality.

This is fantastic news for customers of the big three cable companies in New York and thereabouts: Cablevision, Comcast, and Time Warner have just announced a joint agreement allowing customers of any of the three companies to freely access public Wi-Fi hotspots belonging to any of the three in the New York metropolitan area. Customers in Connecticut and New Jersey will also be able to reap the benefits.

Recently, a number of cable companies have been dropping hints about offering cellphone / wireless Internet service. So far they’ve just been baby steps, with a small test rollout here, or a limited test deployment there. But thus far, none of the CableCos really have much to show for all their talk.

But the cable companies need to think bigger, much bigger: If they do, both you and they will end up winners. Here’s why: