Coordinates	54°13′45″N18°14′3″N
name	Comcast Corporation
logo
type	Public company
traded as	NASDAQ-100 ComponentS&P; 500 Component
foundation	Tupelo, Mississippi, US (1963)
founder	Ralph J. RobertsDaniel AaronJulian A. BrodskyJacob S. LaFleur
location	One Comcast CenterPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, US
area served	United States
key people	Brian L. Roberts(Chairman, President, & CEO)
products	Xfinity (cable television, broadband internet, digital voice), home networking
industry	TelecommunicationsBroadcastingMovie Ticketing Services
revenue	US$ 37.937 billion (2010)
operating income	US$ 6.104 billion (2010)
net income	US$ 3.635 billion (2010)
assets	US$ 118.584 billion (2010)
equity	US$ 44.434 billion (2010)
num employees	102,000 (2010)
homepage	http://www.comcast.com }}

Comcast Corporation ( and ) is the largest cable operator, home internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

The company is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Comcast also has significant holding in several cable networks (including E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, G4, The Golf Channel and Versus), distribution (ThePlatform), and related businesses. Comcast acquired a majority stake in media conglomerate NBCUniversal in January 2011. Comcast has been the subject of criticism, among these include the company's stance on net neutrality as well as poor results on customer satisfaction surveys.

History

Comcast Cable was originally formed as American Cable Systems in 1963 and was founded by Ralph J. Roberts, Daniel Aaron, and Julian A. Brodsky based on a recommendation from Pete Musser, who brought the deal to Ralph Roberts to buy his first cable system in Tupelo, Mississippi. The company was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1969, under the new name Comcast Corporation. The name "Comcast" is a portmanteau of the words "Communication" and "Broadcast".

Over a number of years, Comcast became majority owner of Comcast Spectacor, Comcast SportsNet (in Chicago, Michigan, Philadelphia, Washington DC/Baltimore, New England, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Pacific Northwest and metro Sacramento), as well as E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, G4, The Golf Channel and Versus (formerly the Outdoor Life Network). In 2006, Comcast started a new sports channel—SportsNet New York—in the greater New York City region, in partnership with the New York Mets and Time Warner Cable.

Comcast also has a variety network known as Comcast Network, available exclusively to Comcast and Cablevision subscribers. The channel shows news, sports, and entertainment and places emphasis in Philadelphia and the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. areas, though the channel is also available in New York, Pittsburgh, and Richmond. In August 2004, Comcast started a channel called CET (Comcast Entertainment Television), available only to Colorado Comcast subscribers, and focusing on life in Colorado. It also carries some National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) games when Altitude Sports & Entertainment is carrying the NHL or NBA. In January 2006, CET became the primary channel for Colorado's Emergency Alert System in the Denver Metro Area.

In 1996, Comcast launched Comcast Online to manage operations of their new product line revolving around broadband internet service. Comcast Cable purchased Sarasota Online, one of the largest Internet providers in Florida owned by entrepreneur Richard Swier and quickly expanded into over 30 cities. Today, Comcast Online has over 14 million Internet subscribers.

The UK division was sold to NTL in 1998. After the sale of their cellular division to SBC Communications of San Antonio and the acquisition of Greater Philadelphia Cablevision in 1999, Comcast and MediaOne announced a $60 billion merger which did not occur until three years later (as AT&T; Broadband). In addition, Comcast rebranded around that time and began to employ the logo that continues to be used to this day.

In 2002, Comcast paid the University of Maryland $25 million for naming rights to the new basketball arena built on the College Park campus, named Comcast Center.

On January 3, 2005, Comcast announced that it would become the anchor tenant in a new skyscraper in downtown Philadelphia, to be named the Comcast Center, not to be confused with the Maryland arena mentioned above. The skyscraper is the tallest building in Pennsylvania.

In December 2005, Comcast announced the creation of Comcast Interactive Media (CIM), a new division focused on online media.

As of September 30, 2010, Comcast serves a total of 22.9 million cable customers, 16.7 million high-speed Internet customers, and 8.4 million voice customers. Comcast is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and also has corporate offices in Atlanta, Detroit, Denver, and Manchester, New Hampshire.

Comcast announced in May 2007 and launched in September 2008 a dashboard called SmartZone. Customers can use the service most likely sometime that year according to the ''Daily Herald'' near Chicago, quoting a Comcast spokesperson. HP or Hewlett-Packard led "design, creation and management". Collaboration and unified messaging technology came from open-source vendor Zimbra, according to IDG News Service, who spoke with a Comcast spokesperson the previous year. "SmartZone users will be able to send and receive e-mail, listen to their voicemail messages online and forward that information via e-mail to others, send instant messages and video instant messages and merge their contacts into one address book", according to IDG. IDG also noted Cloudmark spam and phishing protection and Trend Micro antivirus. The address book is Comcast Plaxo software.

Comcast announced for the end of 2008 a new network congestion management technique, after receiving no complaints over the summer in five market trials which were held in Warrenton, Virginia; Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Lake View, Florida; and East Orange, Florida.

Comcast signed a product development and distribution agreement with ABC Radio that will bring branded content from E! Entertainment, Style Network and G4 to terrestrial radio affiliates.

On December 1, 2009, CNBC reported that a tentative agreement had been reached between Comcast and GE. The deal was formally announced on December 3, 2009. Under the agreement, NBC Universal would be 51% owned by Comcast and 49% by GE. Comcast is to pay $6.5 billion cash to GE. Comcast will also contribute $7.5 billion in programming including regional sports networks and cable channels such as Golf Channel and E! Entertainment Television. GE plans to use some of the funds, $5.8 billion, to buy out Vivendi's 20% minority stake in NBC Universal. After the transaction completes, Comcast will reserve the right to buy out GE's share at certain times. GE will also reserve the right to force the sale of their stake within the first seven years. The deal was completed in January 2011, with Comcast taking over as NBC's majority owner.

Comcast holds the Consumerist 2010 Worst Company In America award. A gold trophy in the shape of a pile of shit was delivered to Comcast Corporate Headquarters to commemorate the unmatched level of enmity flowing from their customer base to their business. Verizon congratulated Comcast on their award via the Verizon Twitter feed. Comcast immediately publicly acknowledged the award, claiming ongoing effort to improve their customer service

Services

Xfinity rebranding

Xfinity is the name for the re-branded triple play services in Comcast's largest markets, which include the company's digital cable, cable Internet access, and cable telephone services. Smaller markets currently will retain the Comcast branding for all services until they have been upgraded to full digital services.

A major push involving the new Xfinity branding took place during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games coverage on NBC, which was in the early stages of a merger with Comcast. The company proposed adding more HD channels, foreign language programming, video on demand content (especially with the end of analog cable by 2012), and more programming on its Fancast.com video portal. Additionally, the company is likely to push faster Internet bandwidth along with DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem service where available under the new branding.

According to Comcast, the name Xfinity stands for infinite content choices and cross-platform features.

The Xfinity rebranding has been controversial since its introduction, said to be nothing more than an effort to sidestep the negativity of the "Comcast" brand name. In February 2010, ''TIME'' listed Xfinity at number 1 in their ''Top 10 Worst Corporate Name Changes'' list.

The name changes for each of the triple play services are as follows: Comcast Digital Cable is now called "Xfinity TV", Comcast Digital Voice is now called "Xfinity Voice", and Comcast High Speed Internet is now called "Xfinity Internet".

Comcast Business Class services remain under the "Comcast" name.

Internet

Comcast has 17.406 million high-speed internet customers as of March 30, 2011.

Speed

Comcast offers speeds to residential customers in the following tiers: .384 3 6 12 or 15 6 or 8 8 or 16 4 50 105

Tier Name !! Downstream (Mbit/s) !! Upstream (Mbit/s) !! Time of download at full speed till 250GB monthly cap is reached !! Notes
Economy	1.5	|
Economy Plus	|	.768		May not be available in all markets
Performance Starter	|	1
Performance	|	2	37-47 hours
Performance	|	1 or 2	70-93 hours	In markets not upgraded yet to support DOCSIS 3.0
Performance Plus	|	2	35-70 hours	In markets not upgraded yet to support DOCSIS 3.0
Blast		20 or 25	|	22-28 hours
Extreme	|	10 or 15	11 hours 7 minutes
Extreme 105	|	20	5 hours 18 minutes

These differing speed options are made possible by loading a particular configuration file into the modem. The speeds 50Mbps and higher are achieved by bonding channels together with DOCSIS 3.0 compatible modem.

"Excessive Use" Policy

Comcast broadband has a controversial 250-GB-per-month cap on downloads, which went into effect on October 1, 2008. This policy is also reflected in Comcast Network Management page. The cap combines both upload and download for the total limit. If a user exceeds the cap, on a first offense, a warning email and/or phone call will be issued with information on how to track bandwidth usage by suggesting software monitoring programs. On the second offense within the next six months, the customer's residential services are terminated for one year. The monitoring window is from the first to last day of each calendar month.

Comcast has a policy of terminating broadband customers who use "excessive bandwidth", a term the company refused to define in its terms of service, which once said only that a customer's use should not "represent (in the sole judgment of Comcast) an overly large burden on the network." Company responses to press inquiries suggest a limit of several hundred gigabytes per month. In September 2007, Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas said the company defines "excessive use" as the equivalent of 30,000 songs, 250,000 pictures or 13 million emails in a month. Other company statements have said the limit varied from month to month, depending on the capacity of specific cable nodes, and that it affected only the top one-thousandth of high-speed Internet customers.

Features

According to the Comcast High Speed Internet terms of service, customers are provided with dynamic IP addresses.

Comcast's "PowerBoost" delivers bursts for all but their highest-end and lowest-end tiers, allowing subscribers to use all excess cable node capacity to speed up the first few seconds of downloads.

Legal Issues

On September 4, 2008 Comcast sued the FCC over findings that the previous Network Management policy illegally interfered with BitTorrent traffic on the Comcast network.

Home telephone

In 2009, Comcast was the United States' third-largest telephone provider. Comcast has 8.610 million voice customers. With the completion of the CenturyLink acquisition of Qwest Comcast is the United States' fourth-largest telephone provider.

Business class services

In addition to residential consumers, Comcast also serves businesses as customers, targeting both small businesses with fewer than 20 employees and also mid-sized businesses of 20-500 employees. In 2009, Minneapolis – Saint Paul became the first city in which Comcast Business Class offered 100 Mbit/s Internet service, which includes Microsoft Communication Services. Comcast Business Class internet service does not have a bandwidth usage cap. In May 2011, Comcast announced its Metro Ethernet services, which are available in 20 major U.S. markets, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Harrisburg (Pa.), Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Miami, Nashville, state of New Jersey, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Washington D.C. and western New England. Comcast offers four types of Metro Ethernet services: Ethernet Private Line, Ethernet Virtual Private Line, Ethernet Network Service, and Ethernet Network Dedicated Access, that are available in speeds from one Megabit per second up to 10 Gigabits per second.

Comcast Business services were initially sold exclusively through direct sales employees. On March 14, 2011, Comcast created an indirect sales channel called the Solution Provider Program, a comprehensive indirect channel program that enables telecommunications consultants and system integrators to sell Comcast’s services such as Business Class Internet, Voice, and high-capacity Ethernet services to small and mid-market businesses. The program offers recurring commissions for sales partners based on monthly revenue, and Comcast will provide, install, manage and bill for these services. For the initial launch of the Solutions Provider Program, Comcast enlisted three national master representatives —Telarus, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Intelisys, based in Petaluma, California; and Telecom Brokerage Inc (TBI), based in Chicago. Sub-agent sales partners must work with one of these three partners in the early stages of the program. The head of the Comcast Business channel is Craig Schlagbuam, former head of the Level 3 Communications channel.

Comcast's business class internet services do not offer Service Level Agreements (SLA) or guarantee bandwidth percentages. 8/9/2011 from http://business.comcast.com/SolutionProvider/faq.aspx

13.Is there an SLA associated with Comcast Business Class Internet services? If so, what are the metrics? There are no SLAs on Comcast Business Class Services.

14.Does Comcast Business Class guarantee any percentage of guaranteed bandwidth with their underlying Business Class Internet options? Answer: No, there are no guaranteed bandwidths provided with the service.

Programming

Comcast not only delivers third-party programming content to its own customers, but also produces content that is delivered to both its subscribers and customers of other competing television services. This is a way to diversify Comcast's revenue to both sides of the content/delivery equation. Fully or partially owned Comcast programming includes Comcast Newsmakers, Comcast Network, Comcast SportsNet, SportsNet New York, MLB Network, Comcast Sports Southeast/Charter Sports Southeast, E! Entertainment, Style Network, G4, Versus, The Golf Channel, AZN Television, and FEARnet.

Acquisitions and joint ventures

Comcast bought 25% of Group W Cable in 1986, doubling its size. Two years later, it purchased a 50% share in Storer Communications, Inc. Comcast acquired American Cellular Network Corporation the same year before combining with Metrophone in 1990. Comcast became the third largest cable operator in 1994 following its purchase of Maclean-Hunter's American division. Comcast owned the majority of the electronic retailer QVC from 1995 to 2004 when its share was sold to Liberty Media. Following other acquisitions, Microsoft invested $1 billion in Comcast in 1997.

In 2001, Comcast announced it would acquire the assets of the largest cable television operator at the time, AT&T; Broadband (AT&T;'s spun-off cable TV service) for US$44.5 billion. In 2002, Comcast acquired all assets of AT&T; Broadband, thus making Comcast the largest cable television company in the United States with over 22 million subscribers. This also spurred the start of Comcast Advertising Sales (using AT&T;'s groundwork) which would later be renamed Comcast Spotlight. As part of this acquisition, Comcast also acquired the National Digital Television Center in Centennial, Colorado as a wholly owned subsidiary, which is today known as the ''Comcast Media Center''.

When it was first announced that AT&T; Broadband and Comcast were going to merge, the chosen name for the new company was "AT&T; Comcast". That decision was changed so as to not confuse current and future investors in the company, and the merged company retained the Comcast name.

On February 11, 2004, Comcast surprised the media industry by announcing an unsolicited $66 billion bid for The Walt Disney Company, a deal that would have made Comcast the largest media conglomerate in the world. After rejection by Disney and uncertain response from investors, the bid was abandoned in April. The deal would have also required Comcast to sell off either the Philadelphia Flyers (which they own through Comcast Spectacor) or the Disney-owned Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, since they wouldn't be permitted to own two NHL teams. It was later discovered that the deal was mostly for Comcast to acquire one of Disney's most profitable operations, ESPN, in an attempt to expand its sports reach. Comcast has since opted to rename OLN as Versus and expand their sports coverage with the Tour de France and the NHL. Comcast's NHL deal also obligated them to launch a U.S. version of NHL Network by the summer of 2007. The network finally launched in October 2007. Disney later sold the now-Anaheim Ducks to Henry Samueli in 2005 in an unrelated transaction.

Comcast announced on March 25, 2004 that its new gaming-oriented television network G4 (operated by subsidiary G4 Media, Inc.) would acquire Vulcan Venture's technology-oriented television network TechTV. The deal was finalized on May 10, 2004 – and the two networks became G4techTV on May 28, 2004. On January 11, 2005, Comcast announced that it would drop TechTV from the station's name and again be known as "G4".

On April 8, 2005, a partnership led by Comcast and Sony Pictures Entertainment finalized a deal to acquire MGM and its affiliate studio, United Artists, and create an additional outlet to carry MGM/UA's material for cable and Internet distribution.

On October 31, 2005, Comcast officially announced that it had acquired Susquehanna Communications (SusCom,) a York, PA-based cable television and broadband services provider and unit of the former Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff company, for a net cash investment of approximately $540 million. In this deal Comcast acquired approximately 230,000 basic cable customers, 71,000 digital cable customers, and 86,000 high-speed Internet customers. Comcast previously owned approximately 30 percent of Susquehanna Communications.

On April 3, 2007, Comcast announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire the cable systems owned and operated by Patriot Media, a privately held company owned by cable veteran Steven J. Simmons, Spectrum Equity Investors and Spire Capital, that serves approximately 81,000 video subscribers. Comcast will acquire Patriot for a net cash investment of approximately $483 million. By acquiring the niche provider the deal will plug a hole in its central New Jersey service.

Adelphia purchase

In April 2005, Comcast and Time Warner Cable announced plans to buy Adelphia Cable. $17.6 billion was to be paid (partly in stock) in the deal that was finalized in the second quarter of 2006—after the FCC completed a seven-month investigation without raising an objection. Time Warner Cable would become the second largest cable provider in the U.S., ranking behind Comcast. As part of the same deal, Time Warner and Comcast would also trade existing subscribers to create larger clusters of customers for each company in various geographical areas.. As a part of this subscriber exchange, Comcast and Time Warner transferred contracts for multiple dwelling units. For Comcast, analysis of these contracts were conducted by GAMI LLC , an IT enabled BPO 2.0 (Business Process Outsourcing) firm in Philadelphia western suburbs.

The changes became effective on August 1, 2006. As an example, Comcast's systems in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex were traded to TWC in exchange for Time Warner's North Louisiana market, which covers Shreveport and Monroe. Also, Comcast in Los Angeles Area was traded with TWC. Parts of the Orange County area (Fullerton, Buena Park, etc.) that were Adelphia were originally Comcast subscribers until the early 2000s.

Also in August 2006, Comcast and Time Warner dissolved a partnership that controlled the systems in the Houston, Southwest Texas, San Antonio, and Kansas City markets. After the dissolution, Comcast obtained the Houston system, and Time Warner retained the others. On January 1, 2007, Comcast officially took control of the Houston system, but continued to operate under the Time Warner Cable brand in the interim. As of June 19, 2007, the Time Warner name was officially retired and replaced by Comcast.

Comcast also took over Adelphia systems in the State College, Pennsylvania area in addition to the Lewistown, Pennsylvania area. The company also took over Adelphia's systems in the Pittsburgh market, combining those systems with Comcast's already-large market share in the region (Comcast entered Pittsburgh through the AT&T; Broadband deal). Aside from the satellite companies and small areas with Armstrong Cable (and more recently Verizon FiOS), Comcast effectively has a monopoly in the Pittsburgh region.

In early 2007, Comcast took over Adelphia operations in Palm Beach, Broward, Hillsborough, and Miami-Dade Counties in Florida and Bartow, Pickens, Cherokee, and Forsyth Counties in Georgia.

thePlatform purchase

In July 2006, Comcast purchased the Seattle-based software company thePlatform. This represented an entry into a new line of business – selling software to allow companies to manage their Internet (and IP-based) media publishing efforts. Customers of thePlatform include Verizon Wireless, BBC Worldwide, PBS, CNBC, CBS College Sports, and HiT Entertainment . thePlatform also provides media access for Hulu and Fancast.com.

Plaxo purchase

In May 2008 Comcast purchased Plaxo for a reported $150 million to $170 million.

ESPNU and ESPN3.com

On May 19, 2009, Disney and ESPN Media Networks and Comcast Corporation announced an agreement to add ESPNU to its Digital Classic level of service. Comcast added ESPNU to a majority of its cable systems in time for the start of the 2009 college football season. This includes Comcast's southern systems which enjoys coverage of ESPNU's new Saturday game-of-the-week Southeastern Conference (SEC) package. With this agreement, ESPNU has more than 46 million subscribers.

In the same agreement, it was announced that ESPN360.com (now ESPN3.com)—the sports company's U.S. live sports broadband network—would be made available to all Comcast high speed Internet subscribers. ESPN3.com provides live streaming of more than 3,500 sports events from around the world annually. Programming includes major soccer leagues, US college football, basketball, baseball and softball, NBA, MLB, coverage of major golf and tennis tournaments (such as tennis "grand slam" events, the US Open and Wimbledon). With the agreement ESPN360.com became available to nearly 41 million homes, a majority of broadband homes in America.

TechTV acquisition

On March 25, 2004, Comcast's G4 gaming channel announced a merger with TechTV. This move became hugely controversial among loyal fans of TechTV and its well known personality Leo Laporte. Around May 6, G4 announced the termination of 250 employees from the San Francisco office by July 10, 2004, allowing approximately 80 to 100 employees to transition to G4's main office in Los Angeles, California if they agreed to relocate there.

On May 10, 2004, G4 Media completed the acquisition of TechTV from Vulcan. G4techTV was launched in the U.S. and Canada on May 28, 2004. This led to the cancellation of many of the TechTV channels throughout carriers across the world. On January 3, 2005, TechTV International began airing select programs from G4techTV.

On February 15, 2005, the TechTV brand was dropped from the United States G4techTV feed, leaving the network name as G4 – Video Game Television; since then, G4 has gone through a rebranding into a male oriented network. Comcast also acquired 33.33% of G4 Canada in addition to its US channel in the sale of TechTV.

U.S. Olympic Network

The U.S. Olympic Committee and Comcast intended to team up to create The U.S. Olympic Network, which was slated to launch after the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. These plans have since been put on hold by the U.S. Olympic Committee. The U.S. Olympic Committee and Comcast have ended the plans to create The U.S. Olympic Network.

NBCUniversal

Media outlets began reporting in late September 2009 that Comcast was in talks to buy NBC Universal. Comcast denied the rumors at first, while NBC would not comment on them. However, CNBC itself reported on October 1 that General Electric was considering spinning NBCUniversal off into a separate company that would merge the NBC television network and its cable properties such as USA Network, Syfy and MSNBC with Comcast's content assets. GE would maintain 49% control of the new company, while Comcast owned 51%. Vivendi, which owns 20%, would have to sell its stake to GE. It's been reported under the current deal with GE that it would happen in November or December. It was also reported that Time Warner would be interested in placing a bid, until Jeffrey L. Bewkes (the CEO) came out and said "No", leaving it highly likely that Comcast wouldn't have any other bids to worry about.

On November 1, 2009, ''The New York Times'' reported Comcast had moved closer to a deal to purchase NBCUniversal and that a formal announcement could be made sometime the following week. On December 3, 2009, the parties announced that Comcast will take a controlling 51% stake in NBCUniversal.

On January 18, 2011, the FCC approved the deal by a vote of 4 to 1. The sale was completed on January 28, 2011.

Financial performance

The book value of the company nearly doubled from $8.19 a share in 1999 to $15 a share in 2009. Revenues grew sixfold from 1999's $6 billion to almost $36 billion in 2009. Net profit margin rose from 4.2% in 1999 to 8.4% in 2009, with operating margins improving 31 percent and return on equity doubling to 6.7 percent in the same time span. Between 1999 and 2009, return on capital nearly tripled to 7 percent.

Employee relations

Comcast is consistently rated highly in "top places to work" lists. It should be noted, however, that this status applies only to employees who work directly for Comcast and does not apply to contracted employees in their various third-party call centers. In 2009, it was listed in CableFAX magazine's "Top 10 Places to Work in Cable", which cited its "scale, savvy and vision". Similarly, the ''Philadelphia Business Journal'' awarded Comcast the silver medal among extra-large companies in Philadelphia, with the gold medal going to partner organization, Comcast-Spectacor. ''The Boston Globe'' found Comcast to be that city's top place to work in 2009.

Employee diversity is also an attribute upon which Comcast receives strong marks. In 2008, ''Black Enterprise'' magazine rated Comcast among the top 15 companies for workforce diversity.

Controversies

NFL Network

On November 10, 2006 Comcast announced it would add NFL Network on digital tiers in time for the eight-game Thursday- and Saturday-night package. On August 6, 2007 Comcast moved NFL Network from the digital tiers to the ''Sports Entertainment Package''. This led to a court battle between NFL Network and Comcast, with the ruling in favor of Comcast but the NFL Network plans to appeal the ruling. Comcast has sent NFL Network a cease-and-desist letter to stop encouraging subscribers to leave Comcast. Comcast's agreement with the NFL Network ends in mid-2009. On February 26, 2008 an appellate court in New York has reversed field on a judgment made in May 2007 that allowed Comcast to move the network from its second most distributed tier to the company's sports tier. At the time a court date has not been set. Four judges at New York’s Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, ruled the language "concerning ''additional programming package'' was ambiguous and that ''neither party has established that its interpretation of the relevant contracts is a matter of law.''"

NFL Network later filed a discrimination case against Comcast with the FCC, claiming that since Comcast doesn't charge extra for its owned and operated sports channels Versus and The Golf Channel, it's unfair to charge extra for NFL Network. On October 10, 2008, the FCC ruled as follows:

"In the Second Report and Order, the Commission emphasized that the statute “does not explicitly prohibit multichannel distributors from acquiring a financial interest or exclusive rights that are otherwise permissible,” and thus, that “multichannel distributors [may] negotiate for, but not insist upon such benefits in exchange for carriage on their systems.” The Commission stated, however, that “ultimatums, intimidation, conduct that amounts to exertion of pressure beyond good faith negotiations, or behavior that is tantamount to an unreasonable refusal to deal with a vendor who refuses to grant financial interests or exclusivity rights for carriage, should be considered examples of behavior that violates the prohibitions set forth in Section 616.”We find that the NFL has presented sufficient evidence to make a prima facie showing that Comcast indirectly and improperly demanded a financial interest in the NFL’s programming in exchange for carriage. We further find that the pleadings and documentation present several factual disputes as to whether Comcast’s retiring of the NFL Network is the result of Comcast’s failure to obtain a financial interest in the NFL’s programming. Accordingly, we direct an Administrative Law Judge to hold a hearing, issue a recommended decision on the facts underlying the financial interest claim and a recommended remedy, if necessary, and then return the matter to the Commission within 60 days."

FCC program access complaint

Comcast's trial about the NFL Network's program access complaint with the FCC, filed in May 2008, before an administrative law judge began on April 14, 2009. At issue is whether Comcast's placement of the NFL Network on a digital sports tier ("Sports Entertainment Package") represents discrimination prevented by the 1992 Cable Act.

On April 17, 2009, Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts testified that Comcast is willing to move the channel from the Sports Entertainment Package to a lower priced base package if the subscriber fee was reduced to 25 cents per month. NFL Network currently charges a 75¢ per month fee. He claimed that overall, Comcast saves $50 million a year in license fees by leaving the channel on its Sports Package, which in turn leads to savings for its customers. On May 19, 2009 it was announced that a deal had been reached to move the channel to its "Digital Classic" tier.

Poor and substandard customer satisfaction levels

There have been many reported incidents with individual customers describing less than satisfying interactions with Comcast's customer services. These include situations with a technician falling asleep on the job, customers having to spend hours on the phone to fix simple problems, and sending a bill addressed to "Bitch Dog" to a customer who had recently complained about her service. On October 15, 2007, a 75-year-old Comcast customer named Mona Shaw entered her local Comcast offices with a hammer and destroyed some office equipment before being arrested and fined for damages. Mrs. Shaw was angry and frustrated due to a previous encounter with Comcast customer service in which she and her husband wanted to speak with the manager and were forced to wait outside the offices for two hours before being informed that the manager had already gone home. Comcast's customer service quality has prompted several individuals to create blogs and websites dedicated to informing the public of Comcast's service, including one run by media columnist Bob Garfield. In 2004 and 2007, the American Customer Satisfaction Index survey found that Comcast had the worst customer satisfaction rating of any company or government agency in the country, including the Internal Revenue Service. However, the ACSI indicates that almost half of all cable customers (regardless of company) have registered complaints, and that cable is the only industry to score below 60 in the ACSI. Comcast's Customer Service Rating by the ACSI surveys indicate that the company's customer service has not improved since the surveys began in 2001. Analysis of the surveys states that "Comcast is one of the lowest scoring companies in ACSI. As its customer satisfaction eroded by 7% over the past year, revenue increased by 12%." The ACSI analysis also addresses this contradiction, stating that "Such pricing power usually comes with some level of monopoly protection and most cable companies have little competition at the local level. This also means that a cable company can do well financially even though its customers are not particularly satisfied." In 2009 Comcast rebounded on its ACSI rating for television and Internet services, moving ahead of Charter Communications and into a tie with Time Warner Cable.

Within the Cable Television needs assessment report for the city of Fort Collins, CO February 10, 2004 which was required for Comcast's franchise renewal the city's independent consultant found: "Approximately 62% of the respondents, though, were very dissatisfied (along with another 25% who were dissatisfied) with the cost of cable television service." "A majority of the respondents were satisfied with the friendliness and courtesy of customer service personnel. Overall, approximately 43% of the respondents rated the cable company's performance as fair, 30% regarded it as poor and another 30% rated the cable company's performance as good."

While Comcast does operate some of its own Customer Service Call centers it also outsources Customer Service and some technical support to Convergys Inc and until recently Transcom WorldWide, both third party call center companies.

On October 1, 2008, J.D. Power and Associates published its annual customer satisfaction survey for the nation's top 10 largest cable and satellite television providers. Comcast scored in the bottom 5 for each region of the United States, including 10th in the East Region. One of the largest internet based consumer-review services, Rateitall.com reports the average consumer review of Comcast as 1.7 out of 5 stars, based on a total of 409 reviews to date (2010).

Comcast has made efforts to improve customer satisfaction, including the Comcast Cares Digital Team. The Comcast Cares Digital Team began when then Customer Service Manager, Frank Eliason, decided Twitter would be an ideal way to communicate with customers.

Customer service after Hurricane Ike

Shortly after Hurricane Ike hit the Houston, Texas area in 2008, customers received bills and later collection notices for unreturned equipment that was destroyed during the storm. One customer reported a $931 bill which included a $66 credit for interrupted phone service, but also included $1000 charge for not returning her rented DVR, Cable Modem, and other equipment. Comcast responses differed after the storm, with some Customer Care agents telling customers to file with their insurance providers, and other agents advising customers to return their equipment, even if it was ruined or moldy.

Network neutrality

As early as late 2006, Comcast has implemented measures using Sandvine hardware which sends forged TCP RST (reset) packets, disrupting multiple protocols used by peer-to-peer file sharing networks. This has prevented most Comcast users from uploading files.

On August 17, 2007, TorrentFreak reported that Comcast has been preventing BitTorrent users from seeding files. In October 2007, the Associated Press confirmed the story that indicates that Comcast "actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally." In November 2007, Comcast's severe limiting of torrent applications was again confirmed by a study conducted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in which public domain literature is distributed over peer-to-peer networks. Analysis of the EFF study finds "strong evidence that Comcast is using packet-forging to disrupt peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing on their network". The studies show that Comcast effectively prevents distribution of files over peer-to-peer networks by sending a RST packet under the guise of the end user, and denying the connection, which effectively blocks the user from seeding over BitTorrent. Legal controversy arises because instead of simple filtering, Comcast is sending RST packets to Comcast customers, pretending to be the host user at the other end of the BitTorrent connection. Comcast's BitTorrent throttling was revealed to be through a partnership with Sandvine, although Comcast's internal memos instruct employees to respond to the contrary.

There is also evidence of Comcast using RST packets on groupware applications that have nothing to do with file sharing. Kevin Kanarski, who works as a Lotus Notes messaging engineer, noticed some strange behavior with Lotus Notes dropping emails when hooked up to a Comcast connection and has managed to verify that Comcast's reset packets are the culprit. A lawsuit, ''Hart v. Comcast'', has been filed accusing Comcast of false advertising and other unfair trade practices for allegedly advertising unlimited high-speed Internet access while in reality working to restrict their customers' usage of the Internet.

In 2007, Comcast customers reported a sporadic inability to use Google, because forged RST packets are interfering with HTTP access to google.com, which has further angered users.

In January 2008, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin stated that the FCC is going to investigate complaints that Comcast "actively interferes with Internet traffic as its subscribers try to share files online". During a February 2008 FCC hearing in Boston, Comcast admitted they paid people to hold seats. The company claimed it was so staffers could attend later, but opponents claimed it was to keep Comcast opponents from attending. The FCC has stated it expects to rule on the issue by June 30, 2008.

Comcast and BitTorrent Inc. agreed in late March 2008 to work together in a collaborative effort that will leave the network provider to reconfigure its network to manage traffic in a more protocol-agnostic way. Implementation was projected for late 2008.

Prior to implementation of Comcast's apparent agreements with BitTorrent, Inc., Comcast is reported to be continuing to limit bandwidth available to peer to peer applications. In April 2008, Comcast proposed a "P2P Bill of Rights and Responsibilities" to address potential copyright infringement by users of peer to peer applications, but some scholars argue that this is a veiled attempt by Comcast to strengthen its traffic management capability rather than fight copyright infringement.

On August 21, 2008 the FCC issued an order which stated that Comcast's network management was unreasonable and that Comcast must terminate the use of its discriminatory network management by the end of the year. (File no: EB-08-IH-1518). On January 18, 2009, after reconfiguring their traffic management regime, Comcast was asked by the FCC to address their alleged throttling of VoIP customers. Comcast complied with the order and appealed. On June 6, 2010, the District Court of Appeals for the Columbia vacated the order in Comcast Corp. v. FCC.

Netflix

There is a current ongoing dispute about access to Netflix from inside the Comcast network. "On November 19, 2010, Comcast informed Level 3 that, for the first time, it will demand a recurring fee from Level 3 for additional bandwidth, to keep up with unprecedented customer demand, to transmit Internet online movies and other content to Comcast's customers who request such content, in order to cover infrastructure costs." Level 3 asked Comcast for an additional 200 Gbit/s access to their network at no additional cost, that would offset the long-standing contract between the two companies that as long as each uses roughly the same amount of bandwidth of each others services, that neither would be charged. Comcast has given Level 3 increased bandwidth while they try to work out the details. This has caused over 110,000 people to sign a petition

Lobbying efforts

Analysis indicates that Comcast spends millions of dollars annually on government relationships. Regularly Comcast employs the spouses, sons and daughters of influential mayors, councilmen, commissioners, and other officials to assure its continued preferred market allocations.

Comcast occasionally lobbies against "à la carte" bills that would give consumers the option to purchase individual channels rather than a broad tier of programming. Although they claim the reason for this is to keep customer costs lower, these issues continue to garner attention from state governments, the United States Congress and former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin.

The FCC's decision to sanction Comcast for its 2007 P2P blocking was overruled on April 6, 2010 by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. The question before the court was whether the FCC had the legal authority to "regulate an Internet service provider's network management practice." According to a three-judge panel, "the Commission has failed to make that showing" and the FCC's order against Comcast is tossed.

HDTV claim and quality

Comcast has started transmitting three HD channels per Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) carrier, rather than two per QAM like some other video service providers. Though more cost effective, this additional compression has been noticed and measured by some customers as a reduction in the quality of broadcasts. Comcast claims to have more HD choices than DirecTV by including Comcast's on-demand and pay-per-view assets. Each HD on-demand program is counted as an HD "choice" by Comcast.

Signal intrusion and accidental transmission of pornography

On May 1, 2007, during a broadcast of the preschool program ''Handy Manny'', Comcast had briefly replaced the program on Disney Channel's cable channel assignment with hard-core pornography for subscribers in Lincroft, New Jersey. Comcast's response to the complaints that ensued from the incident claimed that "We are continuing to investigate the root cause of the incident." A spokesperson for Disney Channel said in a statement "We value the trust that parents have in Disney Channel and our programming," said Disney in a statement, "and certainly take [Tuesday's] regrettable programming disruption in New Jersey extremely seriously.

On February 7, 2008, Comcast subscribers in Nashville, Tennessee also saw pornography via the cable provider on Cartoon Network. The incident which happened in the early morning hours, and was broadcast for at least an hour. Vice president of Nashville's Comcast provider, John Gauder apologized and stated "We apologize for any inconvenience some of our Comcast cable TV customers in Middle Tennessee experienced Thursday as a result of some highly unusual issues... It appears that a subscription movie channel was inadvertently shown on other channels which normally carry news, sports, children's and other entertainment programming… We are taking the appropriate steps to ensure that this highly unusual incident does not happen again." Comcast said that engineers thought they had fixed the glitch which occurred on multiple cable channels at midnight earlier that night, but the error reappeared at around 4 am, when the cable company decided to remove the channels from the lineup.

On February 1, 2009 during Super Bowl XLIII, Comcast's transmission of NBC affiliate KVOA (channel 4) in Tucson, Arizona was interrupted for approximately 20 seconds replacing the telecast of the game via NBC with soft-core porn from the adult pay-per-view channel Shorteez. This accidental display affected Comcast's analog cable subscribers in parts of the Tucson area. The substitution appears to have been made at Comcast, not at KVOA, leaving KVOA's over-the-air, satellite and other cable providers viewers unaffected. Also, Comcast's high-definition transmission of KVOA was not affected. Comcast launched an investigation on the incident with the FBI stating that it was an "isolated, malicious act". Comcast also offered to give a $10 credit to any customers who say they viewed the approximately 30-second clip.

DNS hijacking

Comcast turns on DNS hijacking option for its paying cable broadband customers by default. When customers accidentally type and enter a non-existent web address they are redirected to the Comcast search screen. Comcast calls this option "Domain Helper" and gives customers an option to disable it, after authentication on their website.

Company Jet Abuse

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal on June 16, 2011 the Comcast Corporation has recently purchased a $40 million corporate jet. According to Comcast, this jet was purchased for business travel related to Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal. The Wall Street Journal reports, however, that the new jet's most frequent destination (after its base of Philadelphia) was the luxury resort island of Martha's Vineyard home of CEO Brian Roberts. FAA records also show that Comcast's new jet made a large number of winter trips to Palm Beach, Florida, where Comcast CEO Roberts has yet another home. In short, nearly two thirds of this $40 Million jet's flights were to resort destinations. The WSJ reports that in the past four years, 42% of flights made by the Comcast fleet of aircraft were to or from resort areas.

Notes

External links

Category:Broadband Category:Cable television companies of the United States Category:Companies based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Companies established in 1963 Category:Entertainment companies of the United States Category:Internet service providers of the United States Category:Video on demand Category:VoIP companies

de:Comcast es:Comcast fr:Comcast gl:Comcast ko:컴캐스트 nl:Comcast Corporation ja:コムキャスト pl:Comcast pt:Comcast ro:Comcast simple:Comcast fi:Comcast zh:康卡斯特

Coordinates	54°13′45″N18°14′3″N
nationality	American
jr/sr	Junior Senator
state	Minnesota
term start	July 7, 2009
preceded	Norm Coleman
alongside	Amy Klobuchar
name	Al Franken
birthname	Alan Stuart Franken
birth date	May 21, 1951
birth place	New York City, New York
occupation	U.S. Senator, comedian, actor, author, screenwriter, political commentator, politician, and radio host
party	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
alma mater	Harvard College (A.B.)
residence	Minneapolis, Minnesota
spouse	Franni Bryson Franken
children	ThomasinJoe
religion	Judaism
website	Official Senate website
signature	Al Franken Signature.svg }}

Alan Stuart "Al" Franken (born May 21, 1951) is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party.

Franken achieved note as a writer and performer for the television show ''Saturday Night Live'' from its inception in 1975 before moving to writing and acting in films and television shows. He then became a political commentator, author of five books and host of a nationally syndicated radio show on the Air America Radio network.

In 2008, Franken narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman, by 312 votes, after a mandatory statewide manual recount. Coleman contested the outcome in court, but the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously upheld Franken's victory on June 30, 2009. Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009.

Early life

Franken was born in New York City to Phoebe G. Kunst – a homemaker and real estate agent – and Joseph P. Franken, a printing salesman. The family later moved to St. Louis Park, a suburb near Minneapolis. Franken had a Jewish upbringing. His older brother Owen is a photojournalist; MSNBC's Bob Franken is his cousin. Franken was graduated in 1969 from The Blake School, where he was on the wrestling team. He attended Harvard College and graduated with an A.B. ''cum laude'' in 1973 in political science.

Family

Franken met his wife, Franni (''née'' Bryson), in his first year of college. In 2005, they moved back to Minnesota and reside in Minneapolis. The Frankens have two children: daughter Thomasin (born 1981) has degrees from Harvard and the French Culinary Institute and is a former elementary school teacher turned "food educator and private chef"; son Joe (born 1984) holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton.

''Saturday Night Live''

Franken began his performing career in high school at The Blake School, where he and long-time writing partner Tom Davis were known for their humor. Franken honed his writing and performing skills at Minneapolis' Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop theater, specializing in political satire. He and Davis soon found themselves in "a life of near-total failure on the fringes of show business in Los Angeles."

Franken and Davis were recruited as two of the original writers (and occasional performers) on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–1995). In the latter period, only Franken returned as a performer, while Davis usually stayed behind the camera.

In Season 1 of ''SNL,'' as apprentice writers, the two shared a salary of $350 per week. Franken, who received seven Emmy nominations and three Emmy Awards for his television writing and producing, created such characters as self-help guru Stuart Smalley and such routines as proclaiming the 1980s to be the "Al Franken Decade." Franken was associated with ''SNL'' for over 15 years and, in 2002, interviewed former Vice President Al Gore while in character as Smalley. Franken and Davis wrote the script to the 1986 comedy film ''One More Saturday Night,'' appearing in it as rock singers in a band called "Bad Mouth." They also appeared in cameo roles in ''The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash'' and in the Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd film ''Trading Places''.

Franken's most notorious ''SNL'' performance may have been "A Limo for the Lame-O," a commentary he delivered near the end of the 1979–80 season during a Weekend Update segment. Franken mocked controversial NBC president Fred Silverman as "a total unequivocal failure" and displayed a chart showing the poor ratings of NBC programs. Franken proclaimed that Silverman did not deserve a limousine. As a result of this sketch, Silverman refused Lorne Michaels' request that Franken succeed him as ''SNL'''s head producer, prompting Franken to leave the show when Michaels did, at the end of the 1979–80 season. Franken later returned to the show in 1985, mostly as a writer, but also as an occasional performer best known for the Stuart Smalley character. He acknowledged using cocaine while working for ''Saturday Night Live'' but says he no longer uses any illegal drugs. Franken left the show in 1995 in protest over losing the role of Weekend Update anchor to Norm Macdonald.

Post-''SNL''

Franken is the author of five ''New York Times'' best-selling books, three of which reached #1, including ''Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations''.

USO service

Franken has served as a volunteer with the United Service Organizations since he first visited Kosovo in 1999. Franken has conducted several overseas tours to both Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to participating in numerous celebrity handshake tours at military hospitals to visit wounded soldiers. On March 25, 2009, Franken was presented with the USO's Merit Award for his 10 years of service to the organization through visiting injured and deployed servicemembers.

Fox News lawsuit

In 2003, Penguin Books published Franken's book ''Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right'', which included a cover photo of Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly and a chapter accusing O'Reilly of lying. In August of that year, Fox News sued, claiming infringement of its registered trademark phrase "Fair and Balanced". A federal judge found the lawsuit to be "wholly without merit". The incident with Fox focused media attention on Franken's book and, according to Franken, greatly increased its sales (see Streisand effect).

Radio show

Franken signed a one-year contract in early 2004 to host a talk show for Air America Radio's flagship program with co-host Katherine Lanpher, who remained with the show until October 2005. The network was launched March 31, 2004. Originally named ''The O'Franken Factor'' but renamed ''The Al Franken Show'' on July 12, 2004, the show aired three hours a day, five days a week for three years. The stated goal of the show was to provide the public airwaves with more progressive views to counter what Franken perceived to be the dominance of conservative syndicated commentary on the radio. "I'm doing this because I want to use my energies to get Bush unelected," he told a ''New York Times'' reporter in 2004.

Franken is a Grateful Dead fan, and he used their songs as bumper music on his radio show. Franken's last radio show on Air America Radio was on February 14, 2007, at the end of which Franken announced his candidacy for the United States Senate.

Other projects

Franken wrote the original screenplay and starred in the film ''Stuart Saves His Family'', which was panned by critics (receiving a rating of 29% on the website Rottentomatoes.com). He also co-wrote the film ''''When a Man Loves a Woman''.'' He co-created and starred in the NBC sitcom ''LateLine'' until it was canceled in Season 2. He appeared in the 2004 remake of ''The Manchurian Candidate''.

In 2003, Franken served as a Fellow with Harvard's Kennedy School of Government at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

Since 2005, Franken has been a contributing blogger at ''The Huffington Post''. His most recent book, ''The Truth (With Jokes),'' was released in 2005.

Franken has long been associated with the International Order of Odd Fellows (Manchester Unity), but in September 2009, his spokesperson said he is not a member.

Political activism prior to 2008

According to an article by Richard Corliss published in ''Time'', "In a way, Franken has been running for office since the late '70s." Corliss also hinted at Franken's "possibly ironic role as a relentless self-promoter" in proclaiming the 1980s "the Al Franken Decade" and saying, "Vote for me, Al Franken. You'll be glad you did!" In 1999, Franken released a parody book, ''Why Not Me?,'' detailing his campaign for the Presidency in 2000. He had been a strong supporter of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone and was deeply affected by the senator's death in a plane crash shortly before the 2002 Senate election. After the funeral, Rush Limbaugh and several other commentators identified by Franken as "rightwing bloggers" and "Republicans" accused the organizers and participants of Wellstone's remembrance ceremony of using the tragedy for political purposes. Conservative columnists Peggy Noonan and Chris Caldwell asserted that 20,000 people booed Trent Lott. Franken, who attended, denied there was widespread jeering: "Along with everyone else, I cried, I laughed, I cheered. It was, to my mind, a beautiful four-hour memorial. I didn't boo. Neither did 22,800 of the some 23,000 people there." In ''Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them'', Franken wrote that Noonan and Caldwell had later told him that they had not personally been at the memorial service. Franken felt that "the right wing line on the Wellstone Memorial" was accepted by some "mainstream" journalists such as Howard Kurtz.

Franken said he learned that 21% of Americans received most of their news from talk radio, then an almost exclusively conservative medium. Said Franken, "I didn't want to sit on the sidelines, and I believed Air America could make a difference." In November 2003, Franken talked about moving to his home state of Minnesota to run for the Senate. The seat once held by Wellstone, then occupied by Republican Norm Coleman, was to be contested in the 2008 election. In 2005, Franken announced his move to Minnesota: "I can tell you honestly, I don't know if I'm going to run, but I'm doing the stuff I need to do in order to do it." He said that he would run as a Democrat.

In late 2005, Franken started his own political action committee, called Midwest Values PAC. By early 2007, the PAC had raised more than $1 million.

Franken was the subject of the 2006 documentary film ''Al Franken: God Spoke'', which premiered in April 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. It was released nationally on September 13 of that year.

Tax issues

During the 2008 election, New York state officials asserted that Al Franken Inc. had failed to carry required workers' compensation insurance for employees who assisted him with his comedy and public speaking from 2002 to 2005. Franken paid the $25,000 fine to the state of New York upon being advised his corporation was out of compliance with the state's workers' compensation laws. At the same time, the California Franchise Tax Board reported that the same corporation owed more than $4,743.40 in taxes, fines, and associated penalties in the state of California for 2003 through 2007 because the corporation did not file tax returns in the state for those years. A Franken representative said that it followed the advice of an accountant who believed when the corporation stopped doing business in California that no further filing was required. Subsequently, Franken paid $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states dating to 2003 mostly from Franken's speeches and other paid appearances. Franken said he paid the income tax in his state of residence, and he will seek retroactive credit for paying the taxes in the wrong states.

Views

Franken had initially supported the Iraq War but opposed the 2007 troop surge. In an interview with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, Franken said that he "believed Colin Powell", whose presentation at the United Nations convinced him that the war was necessary. However, since then he had come to believe that "we were misled into the war" and urged the Democratically-controlled Congress to refuse to pass appropriations bills to fund the war if they don't include timetables for leaving Iraq. In an interview with Josh Marshall, Franken said of the Democrats, "I think we've gotta make [President George W. Bush] say, 'OK, I'm cutting off funding because I won't agree to a timetable.'"

Franken favors transitioning to a universal health care system, with the provision that every child in America should receive health care coverage, immediately. He has spoken in favor of protecting private pensions and Social Security. He has also advocated cutting subsidies for oil companies, increasing money available for college students, and cutting interest rates on student loans.

U.S. Senate

2008 election

On January 29, 2007, Al Franken announced his departure from Air America Radio. On the day of his final show, February 14, Franken formally announced that he would run for the United States Senate from Minnesota in 2008. Challenging him for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party endorsement was Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, a professor, author, and activist. Other candidates were trial lawyer Mike Ciresi, and Jim Cohen, an attorney and human rights activist who had dropped out of the race earlier.

On April 13, 2007, Franken's campaign filed a campaign finance report. He raised $1.35 million in the first quarter of 2007. The incumbent Senator, Norm Coleman, raised $1.53 million. On July 8, 2007, the Franken campaign stated that it expected to announce that Franken had raised more money than Coleman during the second quarter of the year, taking in $1.9 million to Coleman's $1.6 million, although as of early July 2007, Coleman's $3.8 million cash on hand exceeded Franken's $2 million.

In late May 2008, the Minnesota Republican Party released a letter regarding an article Franken had written for ''Playboy'' in 2000 entitled "Porn-O-Rama!" The letter, signed by six prominent GOP women, including a state senator and state representative, called on Franken to apologize for what they referred to as a "demeaning and degrading" article. Several DFL leaders expressed personal and political discomfort with the article as well. A Franken campaign spokesman responded that, "Al had a long career as a satirist. But he understands the difference between what you say as a satirist and what you do as a senator. And as a senator, Norm Coleman has disrespected the people of Minnesota by putting the Exxons and Halliburtons ahead of working families. And there’s nothing funny about that."

On June 7, 2008, Franken was endorsed at the DFL convention. In a July 2008 interview with CNN, Franken was endorsed by Ben Stein, the noted entertainer, speechwriter, lawyer and author who is known for his conservative views and generally supports Republican candidates. Stein said of Franken, "He is my pal, and he is a really, really capable smart guy. I don't agree with all of his positions, but he is a very impressive guy, and I think he should be in the Senate."

On September 9, 2008, Franken won the Democratic primary for the Senate seat.

During his campaign for the Senate, Franken was criticized for advising ''SNL'' creator Lorne Michaels on a political sketch ridiculing Senator John McCain's ads attacking Barack Obama. Coleman's campaign reacted, saying, "Once again, he proves he's more interested in entertainment than service, and ridiculing those with whom he disagrees."

Preliminary reports on election night November 4 had Coleman ahead by over 700 votes; but the official results certified on by November 18, 2008, had Coleman leading by only 215 votes. As the two candidates were separated by less than 0.5 percent, the Secretary of State of Minnesota, Mark Ritchie, authorized the automatic recount stipulated in Minnesota election law. In the recount, ballots and certifying materials were examined by hand, and candidates could file challenges to the legality of ballots or materials for inclusion or exclusion with regard to the recount. On January 5, 2009, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board certified the recounted vote totals, with Franken ahead by 225 votes.

On January 6, 2009, Coleman's campaign filed an election contest, which led to a trial before a three-judge panel. The trial ended on April 7, when the panel ruled that 351 of 387 disputed absentee ballots were incorrectly rejected and ordered them counted. Counting those ballots raised Franken's lead to 312 votes. Coleman appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court on April 20. On April 24, the Minnesota Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. and oral arguments were conducted on June 1.

On June 30, 2009, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously rejected Coleman's appeal and said that Franken was entitled to be certified as the winner. Shortly after the court's decision, Coleman conceded. Governor Tim Pawlenty signed Franken’s election certificate that same evening. Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009, using the Bible of late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone.

Tenure

Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009, 246 days after the November 2008 election. He became the fifth senator to be sworn in since the class of 2008 was sworn in January 2009. The desk where he sat was the same desk that Paul Wellstone used, which Senate leaders had kept open for Franken.

On August 6, 2009, Franken presided over the confirmation vote of Sonia Sotomayor to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. A year later on August 5, 2010, Franken presided over the confirmation vote of Elena Kagan. His first piece of legislation was the Service Dogs for Veterans Act (), which he wrote jointly with Sen. Johnny Isakson (R). The bill, which passed the Senate via unanimous consent, established a program with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to pair disabled veterans with service dogs.

A video began circulating on the Internet of Franken at the Minnesota State Fair on September 2, 2009, engaging in a discussion with a group of Tea Party protesters on health care reform, and soon found itself going viral. The discussion was noted for its civility, in contrast to the explosive character of several other similar discussions between members of the 111th Congress and their constituents that had occurred over the summer.

Citing the case of Jamie Leigh Jones, Franken offered an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR "if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court." It passed the U.S. Senate, 68 to 30, in a roll-call vote.

In May 2010 Franken proposed a financial reform legislation amendment which would create a board to select which credit rating agency would evaluate a given security; currently any companies issuing a security may select which company evaluates the security. The amendment was passed; however, the financial industry lobbied to have Franken's amendment removed from the final bill. Negotiations between the Senate and House of Representatives, whose version of financial reform did not include such a provision, resulted in the amendment's being watered down to require only a series of studies being done upon the issue for two years. After the studies, if the SEC has not implemented another solution to the conflict of interest problem, Franken's solution will go into effect.

A March 2010 poll taken by Rasmussen Reports placed Franken's approval rating at 50% with Minnesotans.

In August 2010, Franken made faces and hand gestures and rolled his eyes while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered a speech in opposition to the confirmation of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. Franken's actions prompted McConnell to remark, "This isn't 'Saturday Night Live', Al." Following Kagan's confirmation, Franken delivered a handwritten apology to McConnell and issued a public statement saying that McConnell had a right "to give his speech with the presiding officer just listening respectfully."

Committee assignments

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

*Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety

*Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging

Committee on the Judiciary

* Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights

* Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law

* Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law (Chair)

* Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts

Committee on Indian Affairs

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

Special Committee on Aging

Bibliography

Books

''I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!: Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley'' (Dell Books, 1992) ISBN 0-440-50470-8

''Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations'' (Delacorte Press, 1996) ISBN 0-385-31474-4

''Why Not Me?'' (Delacorte Press, 1999) a parody-journal of the fictional “Franken campaign” for President ISBN 0-385-31809-X

''Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness'' (Plume Books, 2003) ISBN 0-452-28450-3

''Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right'' (Dutton Books, 2003) ISBN 0-525-94764-7

''The Truth (With Jokes)'' (Dutton Books, 2005) ISBN 0-525-94906-2

CDs and compilations

''The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Truth About Corporate Cons, Globalization, and High-Finance Fraudsters'' with Greg Palast (2004)

''The O'Franken Factor Factor — The Best of the O'Franken Factor''

''The Al Franken Show Party Album''

Filmography

As Performer

''Saturday Night Live'' (1975-1995) (TV)

''Franken and Davis at Stockton State'' (1984) (TV)

''Tunnel Vision'' (1976)

''The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash'' (1978) (TV)

''Grateful Dead: Dead Ahead'' (1980)

''Trading Places'' (1983)

''One More Saturday Night'' (1986)

''Stuart Saves His Family'' (1995)

''LateLine'' (1998) (TV)

''From the Earth to the Moon'' (1998) (TV)

''Harvard Man'' (2001)

''Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism'' (2004)

''The Manchurian Candidate'' (2004)

''Indian Point: Imagining the Unimaginable'' (2004) HBO documentary (TV)

''The Al Franken Show'' (2004) (TV)

''Tanner on Tanner'' (2004) (TV)

''Al Franken: God Spoke'' (2006)

As Writer

''Saturday Night Live'' (1975-1995) (TV)

''The Paul Simon Special'' (1977) (TV)

''Steve Martin's Best Show Ever'' (1981) (TV)

''Bob and Ray, Jane, Laraine and Gilda'' (1981) (TV)

''The Coneheads'' (with Tom Davis) (1981) (TV)

''Franken and Davis at Stockton State'' (1984) (TV)

''The New Show'' (1984) (TV)

''One More Saturday Night'' (with Tom Davis) (1986)

''When a Man Loves a Woman'' (with Ron Bass) (1994)

''Stuart Saves His Family'' (1995)

''3rd Rock From The Sun'' (1996) (Guest Star) (TV)

''Lateline'' (1998) (Creator) (TV)

''The Al Franken Show'' (2004) (TV)

Electoral history

}}

See also

Saturday Night Live cast

References

External links

Senator Al Franken ''official U.S. Senate site''

Al Franken for Congress ''official campaign site''

in 2002 in 2003 in 2004

Al Franken profile in ''Moment'' Magazine in 2005

{{S-ttl|title=DFL nominee for U.S. Senator from Minnesota(Class 2) |years=2008}} {{U.S. Senator box |before= Norm Coleman |state=Minnesota |class=2 |years=2009-present |alongside=Amy Klobuchar}}

Category:Actors from Minnesota Category:Actors from New York City Category:American actor-politicians Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American humorists Category:American Jews Category:American political pundits Category:American political writers Category:American satirists Category:American screenwriters Category:American talk radio hosts Category:American television actors Category:American television producers Category:American television writers Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish American writers Category:Jewish comedians Category:Jewish United States Senators Category:Minnesota Democrats Category:People from Hennepin County, Minnesota Category:People from Minneapolis, Minnesota Category:United States Senators from Minnesota Category:Writers from Minnesota Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Democratic Party United States Senators

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