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Exclusive: Comcast's Top Digital Exec Amy Banse to Open New Silicon Valley Equity Fund for Cable Giant and NBC

Kara Swisher in News on November 15, 2010 at 12:09 am PT

Amy Banse, currently the president of Comcast Interactive Media, is shifting into a job as head of a new Silicon Valley-based equity fund aimed at making digital investments for the television cable giant, as well as its new NBC Universal unit, according to sources with knowledge of the plans. As part of the shift, sources said, Banse will be charged with combining two existing corporate investment funds: NBC U’s Peacock Equity and Comcast Interactive Capital.

Exclusive: Comcast Reshuffles Its Digital Deck Before NBC Comes Aboard

Peter Kafka in Media on September 21, 2010 at 11:32 am PT

Comcast hasn’t finished acquiring NBC Universal yet. But it is already shuffling some of its digital leadership ahead of the deal’s close. Current digital boss Amy Banse will end up with a new gig, and her lieutenant Matt Strauss gets a promotion.

Comcast COO Steve Burke Live at D8: We’re Not Breaking Up the Cable Bundle Anytime Soon

Peter Kafka in D8 on June 2, 2010 at 7:55 am PT

Depending on your perspective, Comcast is the most dominant force in media, or the one most likely to be disrupted by Internet-fueled upstarts. COO Steve Burke, not surprisingly, argues that his company isn’t going anywhere. Also not disappearing anytime soon: “Bundled” cable TV packages. You might think you only want to pay for a couple channels, Burke says, but that’s not what cable programmers want to sell. Meanwhile, what’s his plan to turn around NBC? Reverse course: “You can’t cut your way to success in broadcast TV.”

Comcast Shows Off an iPad Remote, Promises to Show Off iPad Shows, Too

Peter Kafka in Media on May 12, 2010 at 3:38 pm PT

Comcast wants you to know it loves Web video. Time Warner, too. Just keep paying your cable bill, okay?

More Money for Web Video? Sure: Clicker Raises Another $11 Million.

Peter Kafka in Media on February 18, 2010 at 6:01 am PT

How do you launch a Web video start-up without getting crushed by lawsuits and bandwidth bills? Launch a Web video search engine. That’s the thesis behind Clicker, a would-be TV Guide for Web video, which has raised an $11 million B round led by JAFCO Ventures, with participation from earlier investors Benchmark Capital and Redpoint Ventures. The funding follows an $8 million round announced last fall that was actually raised in 2008.

Time Warner Cable Shows Subscribers How to Cut the Cord

Peter Kafka in Media on December 31, 2009 at 8:41 am PT

The nightmare scenario for cable companies is that customers drop their TV subscriptions and grab their video directly from the Web, turning the cable guys into mere providers of “dumb pipes.” But here’s a comprehensive set of instructions from a big cable company showing its customers how to do just that.

Comcast Launches Its “TV Everywhere” Plan Nationwide, With an Awful Name: Say Hello to “Xfinity”

Peter Kafka in Media on December 15, 2009 at 8:18 am PT

As promised, Comcast is opening up the trial of its “TV Everywhere” program, which gives its subscribers–but only its subscribers–access to extra TV programming on the Web.

Why Comcast Will Stay Hands Off Hulu, for Now

Peter Kafka in Media on December 3, 2009 at 12:16 pm PT

Hulu and its broadcast TV owners have been pretty clear about their interest in creating a premium/subscription offering for the free site. Does Comcast want to change that? I don’t think so, despite words to the contrary this morning.

Vevo, Big Music’s Hulu, Launches Dec. 8

Peter Kafka in Media on November 18, 2009 at 3:05 pm PT

Vevo, the music industry’s attempt to create a Hulu-like site for its music videos, will formally launch Dec. 8. The site, which is co-owned by Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, Sony’s music label and Abu Dhabi Media, will host a New York kick-off event that day.

Another Video Site We Don’t Need: AT&T Entertainment

Peter Kafka in Media on September 3, 2009 at 10:54 am PT

There is no shortage of places to watch TV shows free on the Web. There’s a glut of them, really. But here comes another: AT&T Entertainment. How is it different than Hulu, TV.com, Sling.com, Fancast, etc.? It’s not.