Looks like Comcast is making a lot of news today with the announced release of their Xfinity TV app for the iPad also the company continues nail-biting as they wait for the FCC and the Justice Department to finish reviewing their purchase of NBC Universal. Finally, the merger and the release of the iPad app, appear to come during a period of time cable companies cable markets look wobbly due to a reduction in subscriptions. Although, analysis of the reduction in subscriptions still seems shaky.

According to Marketwatch, the Xfinity iPad app looks to be hitting all the right angles, “Users will be able to use Xfinity TV to program their digital video recorders, browse content by keyword or title, create a watchlist of favorite shows, and share viewing choices with others via social networks.”

The acquisition of NBC Universal continues, but Comcast is getting impatient with government executives. As an article in Bloomberg Buisnessweek intimates about the slowness of the deal’s review,

The FCC and Justice Department are reviewing the $28 billion deal. The purchase would give Comcast, the largest U.S. cable company, control of the NBC television network, broadcast stations, cable channels such as MSNBC and USA Network, a movie studio and a share of the online site Hulu LLC. The deal was announced Dec. 3, 2009.

Cohen’s meeting was one of at least four that NBC and Comcast executives held in Washington last week with officials at the FCC, which hasn’t said when it may rule on the purchase.

The acquisition and the release of the iPad app comes at a time that cable companies are fearing that users are cutting their subscriptions in favor of Internet-only viewing, however a newly released Nielsen study turns that on its head. The activity, so-called “cutting the cord” which refers to people eschewing cable access for Internet television, seems to run along the lines of users going to Internet TV to augment their cable consumption, not replace it. From the ReadWriteWeb story, the vast majority of cable TV viewers (84%) still watch the same amount of television on their regular set, using their cable service.

It is easy to see, though, that Internet streaming video will work its way to cut into cable TV subscriptions—however, it might just push more users to Internet cable subscriptions as well. With the advent of numerous set-top box devices like Boxee and the arrival of Google TV, they will probably start pulling more subscribers out of traditional programming and into Internet programming.

As cable companies already have a huge presence in Internet TV programming they may have little to fear either way, as long as they manage to adequately straddle the media, it’s just a new broadcasting platform for them.