Get Ready To Spend A Lot More On Bacon This Summer

(Adds details from testimony, background on PEDv)

By Ros Krasny

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. hog prices could rise by 15 percent to 25 percent and consumer prices for pork by 10 percent to 12 percent as a result of a virus that has killed some 7 million piglets in the United States, the National Pork Producers Council said on Wednesday.

But because consumer demand for pork has so far not slipped in response to rising prices, the industry is poised for a strong financial year, NPPC President Howard Hill said in testimony prepared for a House Agriculture Committee panel.

Hill said hog slaughter this summer could fall by more than 10 percent relative to 2013 because of the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv). U.S. pork production likely will fall 6 percent to 8 percent in the third quarter, he said.

Comcast To Shed 3.9 Million Subscribers To Ease Cable Deal

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By Liana B. Baker

April 28 (Reuters) - Comcast Corp said it would shed 3.9 million video customers as part of its proposed $45 billion merger with Time Warner Cable Inc, with Charter Communications buying 1.4 million.

A source familiar with the deal said Charter would pay $7.3 billion for the subscribers and that the overall divestment was worth about $20 billion.

The other 2.5 million subscribers included in the divestment will be taken on by a new publicly traded company, dubbed SpinCo for now, that will be spun off by Comcast.

GM's Massive Recall Takes Bite Out Of Profit

DETROIT, April 24 (Reuters) - General Motors Co on Thursday posted lower quarterly profit after a massive recall due to defective ignition switchs linked to at least 13 deaths, but results still topped Wall Street expectations on strong pricing for its vehicles, especially in North America.

Net income in the first quarter fell to $108 million, or 6 cents a share, from $873 million, or 58 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. The most recent quarter included recall costs of $1.3 billion, or 48 cents a share.

Excluding a charge mostly for the devaluation of the Venezuelan currency, GM earned 29 cents a share, far better than the 4 cents analysts expected, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Some GM ignition switches can make vehicle engines stall while operating, stop airbags from deploying, and power steering and power brakes from operating. The company is under investigation by U.S. safety regulators, Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice over its failure to detect the faulty part for more than a decade. (Reporting by Ben Klayman and Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

The Supreme Court Is About To Decide The Future Of Television

Major television broadcasters and Aereo will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday in a case that is about much more than the future of a controversial startup. The outcome could have far-reaching effects on the future of television and cloud computing, the quality of wireless service, and entrepreneurs trying to create the next big thing in technology.

Aereo is a 2-year-old startup that uses tiny antennas to capture broadcast airwaves and stream those signals to users who pay about $8 a month for the service. The company offers a handful of network TV offerings in several cities, and subscribers can watch and record the programming on their computers and mobile devices.

If You Support Legal Marijuana, Memorize These 13 Stats

Regardless of your feelings about legalizing marijuana, it's hard to deny that legal weed would be a bonanza for cash-strapped states, just as tobacco and alcohol already are.

With Colorado and Washington starting to tax and regulate recreational weed sales, and medical marijuana legal in 18 other states, we can finally start to put some hard numbers on the industry's value.

Goldman Sachs Profit Tumbles 11 Percent

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By Lauren Tara LaCapra and Tanya Agrawal

April 17 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc reported an 11 percent drop in quarterly profit as client activity remained constrained and fixed-income revenue shrank, but both earnings and revenue beat market estimates and the Wall Street bank's shares rose.

Goldman said net income fell to $1.95 billion, or $4.02 per share, in the first three months of the year from $2.19 billion, or $4.29 per share, in the same period of 2013.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of $3.45 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Total net revenue fell 8 percent to $9.33 billion, but beat the average estimate of $8.70 billion.

Goldman's shares, which had fallen more than 20 percent since the start of the year to Wednesday's close, were up 1.9 percent at $160.28 before the opening bell.