Yahoo!!! Yang is gone!

Jerry Yang finally has agreed to resign as Yahoo! Inc.’s (YHOO) CEO.

It’s past time. The Internet company’s stocks have fallen to a third of the price-per-share Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) offered to pay for a buyout; there’s no apparent strategy for success; and shareholders are very – make that, very ─ unhappy with Yang. Well, until today, that is. Yahoo!’s stock is up more than 10 percent on news of Yang’s resignation.

Now the vetting for a new CEO begins. An All Things Digital columnist puts Peter Chermin, president and COO of News Corp., at the top of the heap. A ZDNet blogger thinks billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn, who sits on the Yahoo! board, fits the bill. (We don’t really see that happening. Icahn likes to have his fingers in too many pies at the same time to focus on running a single company.)

Yang will have a say in who replaces him ... and we rather wonder if he shouldn’t. He did handpick Hollywood exec Terry Semel, who did a disastrous job as CEO. And Yang hasn’t had the greatest run himself. After all, just because someone can start a successful company doesn’t mean he or she will operate said company successfully. Anyway. Yang will remain on the Yahoo! board and work for the company in a strategy role as, er, Chief Yahoo. He’ll probably have a cube in a dark corner where disgruntled fellow Yahoos can’t find him.

Comcast Lowers Price of Triple Play

Looking to offer a lower priced triple play to cost-conscious consumers who don’t need much premium content, Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) has created a threesome that includes digital TV, high-speed Internet and VoIP for $79.99 a month for one year.

The cable giant’s next most expensive triple plays come in at $99 a month and $129 a month, with the above-$79.99 charge determined by just how much content comes with the TV element of the trio.

With digital TV transition set for mid-February, it appears Comcast is trying to court those looking to move to a digital TV-led package, but don’t need, nor want lots of bells and whistles.

However, the price promotion ends before December and it’s unclear at this point if the cableco is predisposed to extend it, as has been the common practice with bundles that prove attractive with consumers.

As is almost always the case with triple play offers that include cable TV from Comcast, the package offers access to video on demand, which gives consumers a vast library of free and pay-extra TV shows and movies.

What’s noticeably absent from the triple play is free stuff. Many operators have given away free TVs, digital cameras, multiple months of free pay content, cash-back offers and online ordering credits. Some are commonplace from telco TV providers AT&T Inc. (T), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and lower tier providers.

By contrast, this Comcast triple play offers McAfee security with the Internet element, an item it has offered with its cable modem service for a very, very long time.

The cable giant could be testing the allure and effectiveness of lower-priced triple plays with this offering.