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In his opening remarks about the proposed Comcast-NBC deal at a hearing held by the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, Franken (D-Minn.) ripped into the deal and the risks it could present to not only consumers but media competition as well.

ABC News will make significant job cuts as part of a reorganization, the latest signal that broadcast networks must re-evaluate themselves in competition with cable and others.

"Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts and NBC Universal President & CEO Jeff Zucker faced a barrage of questions Feb. 25 in a marathon--over five hours with one break--hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on their proposed joint venture, their third Hill visit in as many weeks as they push for government approval of their $30 billion joint venture.\nDuring that time, the pair defended their records on diversity, and in some cases pledged to do better, reiterated their pledges to keep NBC free and over the air, and their programming available to competitive distributors."

The Comcast-NBC show returned to Capitol Hill Thursday as legislators pressed executives over the companies' plans to create a $30 billion media juggernaut. During a lengthy round of questioning, Comcast (CMCSA) CEO Brian Roberts and NBC Universal chieftain Jeff Zucker denied that the merger would be anti-competitive and would lead to layoffs. But critics were unswayed, including one who went as far as to say the deal would "undermine American democracy."

Jack Tretton, the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, discusses how Sony is reorganizing, the motion-control competition with Microsoft, and how Sony ignored naysayers and found gaming success.

YT is out to increase the amount of time that viewers spend on the site, which is currently 15 mins per day. They spend 5 hrs per day on TV, so YT execs see that as their main competition. How to make YT viewing experience more like TV? More sticky? Need to generate new models for search suggestions ("discovery," a la Netflix and Amazon, or social media, a la Facebook). Also need to explore models for pushing content, Amazon.

Update on the Comcast-NBC merger. The deal faces criticism that it could lead to higher cable TV rates, harm competition, and stifle online innovation. Comcast says it won't.

A look at Google's competition in advertising revenues, online media, communication technologies, etc.

As part of her Let's Move campaign to end childhood obesity, First Lady Michelle Obama is on the hunt for games that encourage kids to be more physically active and to make better choices about what they eat.

"The Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan, announced last week, is aimed at providing nearly universal, affordable broadband service by 2020. And while it takes many admirable steps - including very important efforts toward opening space in the broadcast spectrum - it does not address the source of the access problem: without a major policy shift to increase competition, broadband service in the United States will continue to lag far behind the rest of the developed world."

Op Ed Exploring the rates and speeds available in other countries, and the fact that the United States has among the slowest speeds and the highest prices of advanced economies. Also discusses the proposed FCC National Broadband Plan.

This blog post situates the ambitious Google Fiber project against recently announced FCC plans to spur faster broadband development. The article also discusses issues of media regulation, specifically pricing and competition.

"Chinese society will not only benefit from increased connectivity, but from increased competition resulting in higher quality, more robust offerings at lower prices."

Discusses the challenges of charging readers for online news content, including competition between pay and free sites for readers.

The BBC is proposing large cuts of its online operations after critics from the Conservative Party and its commercial rivals have claimed that its public funding gives it an unfair advantage over other operations

Discussion of COMCAST's TV Everywhere program, in light of its current review over a deal with NBC.

"In its public FCC filing Thursday, Comcast expanded on its previous argument that buying a 51% stake in NBC Uni will not lead it to block out independent programmers and that it will actually have various public interest benefits. Those benefits fall into all areas that the FCC has promoted, such as diversity, localism, competition and innovation, Comcast argued in the filing."