It’s not the first time the two have reportedly come close to landing a partnership. They were in discussions last year as well. 

At issue, according to the report, is Google’s desire to save information from user searches in order to enhance the relevancy of its ads. Verizon, like other carriers, have been unwilling to part with such valuable consumer data. Another hang-up is the revenue split from the ads.

Regardless, Google’s Android phones are expected to hit the market shortly, making deals like this just one part of the Internet search leader’s massive mobile ambitions.

Keep an eye on:

• Courts warn media companies on take-down notices (Wired)
• Advertising slowdown continues, says WPP (Reuters)
• Apple’s iPhone 3G launches in India with no mass hysteria and a price tag of $700 (Reuters)

(Photo: Reuters)

But the largest U.S. cable operator is hoping to win over its customers by offering a free Nintendo Wii to new subscribers to its Triple Play package of video, Internet and phone.

The national free Wii offer runs from Monday till August 17th for new subscribers who have to agree to sign up for two years to one of Comcast’s premium Triple Play packages: Preferred Plus (at $129 a month) and Premier Triple Play ($159 a month).

Comcast seems to be adopting the tactics of a major rival. Earlier on Monday we posted about Verizon’s drop-off in FiOS TV subscriber growth last quarter after it stopped giving away flatscreen high-def TVs. The expensive marketing push certainly helped Verizon establish the FiOS TV brand in the minds of consumers in areas where it markets such as New York.

Maybe the Wii, which still can’t be found on some store shelves, will help Comcast regain some of that customer love. Or perhaps that’s money better spent on improving customer service .

(Photo: Reuters)

But Verizon Chief Operating Officer Denny Strigl (pictured)  told analysts the slowdown in FiOS TV growth was explained by the end of Verizon’s popular promotion giving away free high definition television sets.

On the plus side, not giving away TV sets helped keep mounting subscriber acquisition costs under control thereby boosting its bottom line, the No. 2 U.S. phone company told Wall Street.

Several Wall Street analysts and cable executives have derided Verizon for the billions of dollars it is spending on acquiring FiOS customers saying it will never make a return on its investment. 

But Collins Stewart analyst Tom Eagan says cable operators can’t relax just yet especially Time Warner Cable and Cablevision who have New York cable systems - an area Verizon is very focused on.

“We expect higher net adds in the third quarter with the roll out into Manhattan. Verizon stated this morning that it plans to aggressively promote the NYC roll out of its FiOS TV service and offer 100 HD channels., which is currently above the TWC offering,” said Eagan in a note to clients on Monday.

(Photo: Reuters)

Verizon got approval to roll out FiOS TV just last week and is expected to begin installations as soon as August. Reuters ran an analysis last week that showed that Verizon’s roll-out of FiOS will be expensive for the phone company and its cable competitors, particularly Time Warner Cable.

Greenfield said New York City represents only 10 percent of Time Warner Cable’s subscriber base, but its average revenue per user is well above average.

Here’s where he sees Verizon earning points:

- His own anecdotal research found many TWC customer service reps hadn’t even heard of FiOS.

- Verizon’s customer service reps indicated early demand for FiOS is robust. (Greenfield accepts they might have been biased.)

- Triple Play pricing pressure could come to New York with Verizon offering a six-month promotional offer as low as $70 a month for TV, phone and high speed Internet compared with $120 a month for TWC.

Greenfield’s decision to downgrade TWC to “sell” from “neutral” is not just about Verizon — there’s the economy to consider as well. He still feels TWC’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) will grow by up to 10 percent, but said that requires strong performance in the second half of the year.

“TWC’s margins generally ramp in the back half of the year and political advertising should accelerate as the year progresses, however, the weakening economy does make our 2008 estimates feel aggressive.”

At first glance it doesn’t look like it will be a good quarter with these analysts forecasting Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision to lose around 100,000 basic TV subscribers collectively, while satellite TV plays DIRECTV Group and DISH Network will add around 320,000.

Even more worrisome for cable companies?  AT&T and Verizon added around 410,000 new TV subscribers between them during the quarter.

Yet at least one analyst cautions investors  not to read too much into cable’s basic video subscriber losses as this metric is not as important to growth as the addition of other revenue generating units in particular Internet access and phone.

“It would be missing the point to focus on basic video subscriber adds,” says Chris Marangi, an analyst at Gabelli & Co. which holds shares in Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision as well as the two satellite TV companies.

“Voice services and high speed data subscribers is what drives revenue growth,” says Marangi.

(Photo: Reuters/Glenn Britt (l), Brian Roberts (r))