The U.S. Senate has recognized January 28th as National Data Privacy Day. I recently spoke with Jay Opperman, Senior Director of Security and Privacy, about how Comcast is helping to promote awareness about privacy.

Click here for more information on how to protect your privacy online.

Congratulations to Jackson, Michigan resident Debbie Reinecke on her Xfinity Endless Fun Sweepstakes win. The contest celebrated that Xfinity On Demand reached 20 billion views in 2011.

One of Debbie's prizes was a trip to New York City for a walk-on role in an upcoming episode of NBC's "30 Rock." Watch the video to get a glimpse of her on-set experience where she got to meet stars Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan.

The "Endless Fun" doesn't stop with her fifteen minutes of fame in New York City, later this year Debbie will enjoy a Universal Orlando Resort vacation as well as a trip to a Universal Pictures Premiere and after-party and receive spending money to enhance the fun. For a list of all the lucky winners from recent Xfinity Sweepstakes, visit xfinitysweepswinners.com.

Xfinity Home Security, Comcast's home security system coupled with remote home management, continues to launch in various markets across the country and it helps customers stay connected to their home - from anywhere, via their computers and mobile devices.

With the winter heating season upon us, we thought it would be a great time to highlight some of the energy saving features that are available with Xfinity Home Security. I recently spoke with Mitch Bowling, SVP and GM of New Businesses, and in this video he discusses how you can control a digital thermostat and lighting in your home.

We recently filed our application at the FCC outlining why our proposed transfer of AWS spectrum licenses, currently held by SpectrumCo (of which Comcast is a majority owner), to Verizon Wireless is in the public interest. The reasons why we believe this transfer is in the public interest are fully summarized in that filing, which provides detail about the significant investments made by SpectrumCo and its owners to clear and test the spectrum, and the comprehensive analysis we undertook to determine how to maximize the spectrum's utilization. We always intended to use the spectrum productively, and ultimately, after considering a variety of alternatives, the owners of SpectrumCo concluded that the proposed transfer to Verizon Wireless was the best route to efficiently put that spectrum to use to the benefit of consumers.

Recent questions have been raised about a statement by Comcast CFO, Michael Angelakis, in part of his brief reply to a question at the Citi Media conference earlier this month, that "[w]e never really intended to build that spectrum." We understand the possible issues this raises and want to take this opportunity to put that statement in its proper context and make very clear what the facts are.

First, we bought the AWS spectrum licenses with every intention to use that spectrum to put SpectrumCo in a position to provide our customers with a wireless service, although the scale, type, and business case for that service was undetermined at the time of our purchase in 2006. As SpectrumCo stated in the press announcement at the close of the AWS auction, we "did not approach this investment with the intent of becoming the nation's fifth wireless voice provider" but rather "to obtain greater flexibility in developing options for more advanced wireless services."

Second, Michael's statement was a shorthand reply on a subject with a long and complex history. It was intended to describe the thought process following a lot of evaluation and analysis, and was not intended to describe our intentions at the point SpectrumCo acquired the AWS spectrum. In fact, Michael has spoken many times on this subject, and as far back as 2008 at the Citigroup Eighteenth Annual Entertainment Conference, he talked in more detail about our wireless plans when he said Comcast and its partners "made a major investment in AWS spectrum a while ago. I think what we're really trying to figure out is what is the product and how does that product integrate with our existing product lines...What is the appropriate technology and strategy, and what is the business plan or financial case...that would make some sense?...We are looking at them, we are evaluating...we also don't feel the immediate pressure of needing a wireless product."

Third, our filed public interest statement and related declaration, makes clear the significant amount of work and analysis we have performed over a several-year-period to take the initial steps toward developing a wireless service using the AWS spectrum and answering the question of how best to utilize this spectrum:

• SpectrumCo invested more than $20 million to clear incumbent microwave links in the AWS spectrum service area. More than 500 incumbents have been cleared.
• SpectrumCo conducted, between 2007 and 2009, extensive operational testing of different 4G technologies for use with AWS spectrum, including WiMAX, UMB, and LTE.
• SpectrumCo tested equipment for use with AWS spectrum, independently and with other equipment manufacturers, such as Qualcomm, Nokia, and Samsung.

All the while, a significant amount of resources and time were being expended in analyzing the results of those tests, the changing consumer and wireless technology marketplace, and the various business models (including investments in and joint ventures with other partners in the wireless space, all designed to explore a sustainable business model for providing mobile wireless services to our customers). Moreover, we observed the experience of Cox Communications as it attempted to launch a new, competitive wireless service over its own network. Ultimately, but only after a significant investment and years of substantial study and analysis, we determined that it was not feasible to use the AWS spectrum to launch our own wireless network because: (i) we did not have enough spectrum for anything other than an initial launch;(ii) the costs to solve for that problem were too substantial for us; (iii) the costs of building out a new national network were also too high; and (iv) there were significant marketplace hurdles in launching a new, competitive wireless service, which included access to devices at commercially beneficial terms and the need to obtain national roaming rights on attractive terms.

This has been our consistent message for the last several years as it became clearer that there was not a sustainable business model to support a new, standalone, facilities-based wireless provider. For example, in 2008, Michael set forth the approach we were taking with this spectrum: "I think what we really need to do is look at how do we...add another feature to our existing, really very good products, and how do we add mobility to them in some form or fashion...we're taking a very cautious and careful approach to what is the right product, what is the right technology, and what is the right business plan around that, that we think is attractive for us." And in 2009,as SpectrumCo's analysis evolved further,he explained that "[t]o us it's not necessarily about a quad play in terms of handset and bundles...We have a robust data business...a very good phone business...a terrific video business. How do we take those three products and add mobility to them to enhance the product set?...We have 20 megahertz of spectrum...We don't want to be the seventh competitor in a market that we think is mature...And it's a huge economic investment, which we're uncomfortable there's a real return for." (emphasis added) SpectrumCo also delivered a similar message to the FCC in 2009, explaining that "any new facilities-based entrant in the wireless marketplace, particularly one with national aspirations, and regardless of resources, faces daunting entry barriers. It must obtain suitable spectrum, construct a network, and obtain roaming agreements with entrenched incumbents."

The only fair assessment of our position is to review all of our public statements over the past few years, including our filings at the FCC, and our actions, which show an evolving thought process, based on a detailed analysis of market realities. Focusing on one shorthand sentence in a lengthy Q&A simply does not tell the story. The complete picture is very clear: we acquired spectrum with the intention of using it to help position the company to offer wireless services, we analyzed thoroughly whether we could build a business case to do so, but ultimately concluded, as a business matter, not to become a standalone, facilities-based wireless provider, and having reached that decision, considered other alternatives that would promptly allow for the efficient use of that spectrum to improve wireless consumer experiences.

I am pleased to announce that Comcast, the largest ISP in the U.S., is the first large ISP in the North America to have fully implemented Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC). As part of our ongoing efforts to protect our customers, DNSSEC is now automatically included as part of Comcast Constant Guard™ from Xfinity.

We have worked hard to be a leader with our DNSSEC deployment. As of today, over 17.8M residential customers of our Xfinity Internet service are using DNSSEC-validating DNS servers. In addition, all of the domain names owned by Comcast, numbering over 5,000, have been cryptographically signed. All of our servers, both the ones that customers use and the ones authoritative for our domain names, also fully support IPv6.

ICANN in 2010 took the first step, by signing the global DNS root. After that, many top-level domains (TLDs) such as .COM, .NET, .ORG, and .GOV have followed suit and signed their respective TLDs. This has enabled ISPs like Comcast to both sign domain names in DNSSEC-enabled TLDs, and also to validate DNSSEC when our customers use the Internet.

For background, ISPs play two roles in DNSSEC. The first role is perhaps the most critical, which is validating DNSSEC as part of the DNS lookups performed for our customers. These lookups occur when a customer tries to access a site, such as www.comcast.com. Then, when a customer tries to connect to that website, a Comcast DNS server checks that domain name, and verifies that signature to ensure that it is valid and has not been tampered with by hackers or other criminals. The second role is to cryptographically sign the domain names that we own, such as xfinity.com, so that when our customers or others using DNSSEC try to connect to services in those domains, they can validate the security of the associated DNS responses.

Now that nearly 20 million households in the U.S. are able to use DNSSEC, we feel it is an important time to urge major domain owners, especially commerce and banking-related sites, to begin signing their domain names. While in the past those domains may have wanted to do so but felt it would have limited effect, they now can work on signing their domains knowing that the largest ISP in the U.S. can validate those signatures on behalf of our customers.

For more information, you may also want to check out this brief introductory video about DNSSEC, our DNSSEC Information Center, as well as our Constant Guard™ page.

For an update about Comcast Domain Helper, click here.

Today, Comcast and The Walt Disney Company announced an unprecedented distribution deal that will bring our Xfinity TV customers broad access to more top sports, news and entertainment on television, online, tablets and handheld devices into the next decade. The deal is a continuation as well as an expansion of our existing relationship with Disney and further underscores our goal of bringing consumers the best content using the latest technology and cloud innovation.

For the first time ever, Comcast's Xfinity TV customers will be able to watch ESPN, ABC or Disney shows live or on demand and across multiple screens, in and out of the home. During the duration of this deal, our customers will enjoy increased mobility and more Disney content than ever before on television, on demand, and online.

In total, 70 services are covered by the broad scope of this new agreement, including: ABC, ABC Family, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN 3D, ESPN GamePlan, ESPN FullCourt and ESPN3 as well as retransmission consent for seven ABC-owned broadcast television stations and more than 10 high-definition networks.

With the pace of technology changing so rapidly, we will also collaborate over the term of the deal to create new, innovative viewing experiences for Xfinity TV customers, which is another great aspect of this agreement.

This deal is a big step forward in delivering TV Everywhere and good news for our Xfinity TV customers who will have access to more of the content they love and the flexibility to view it in more places.

With consumers watching more entertainment choices — on both the traditional TV and devices like the iPad — 2011 was a landmark year for Xfinity TV that brought customers access to more shows and movies as well as tools and features to personalize viewing and make it easier than ever before to watch across multiple screens.

We kicked off the year by introducing Play Now on the Xfinity TV app, which brought a whole new way to watch to our customers. If you haven't checked it out yet, the app lets you view shows and movies right on your iPad® iPhone® and iPod Touch®. You can also use your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and Android® as a remote control to search live TV listings, find out what's on Xfinity On Demand and schedule your DVR while on-the-go. The app, available for free, has been downloaded more than 3.5 million times since its launch and now offers more than 8,000 hours of TV episodes and movies to stream.

In May, we reached a major milestone when we surpassed more than 20 billion entertainment views on Xfinity On Demand. We celebrated with the launch of the Xfinity On Demand Awards, which honored the top-performing movies, TV series, musical artists and other programming as determined by what customers watched the most on the service. "The Hangover" won for the most all-time viewed movie on the service. Check out the other winners here.

We added current TV series from ABC and FOX on Xfinity On Demand, making us the first to offer TV series from all four major broadcast networks on video-on-demand (VOD). Now, customers can catch-up and keep-up with their favorite TV series, including current and recent episodes from popular shows like " Up All Night," "Grey's Anatomy," "Revenge," "The Simpsons," "NCIS," " New Girl," "The Office," "Homeland" and a ton more. This fall, we had more than 90% of the new and returning shows available across our VOD and online viewing platforms.

In the past year, the average number of views on Xfinity On Demand grew to more than 370 million each month. Customers favorite programming included top-rated TV series, kids programming and movies that were available on Xfinity On Demand the same day as the DVD release.

XfinityTV.com rolled out a whole new suite of tools and enhanced features to make viewing across screens easier than ever. We added a simplified site navigation to help customers quickly find what they want to watch, a new video player and more entertainment choices, including popular TV series, hit movies, kids programming, indie films, movie collections, editorial selections, activities for kids and families, specials, exclusive content and sports. It's the only place online that offers current content from all major broadcast networks — ABC, CBS,FOX and NBC and all the major premium providers — HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz and Encore. The site now offers more than 200,000 entertainment choices and is visited by about 8 million viewers each month.

As viewing on the traditional TV and across screens continues to increase, we'll keep working to bring content to additional devices, like the Xbox, along with more personalized tools that put viewers in the driver's seat in 2012.