Comcast 2007 Annual Report Download - page 33

Contractual Obligations
Our unconditional contractual obligations as of December 31, 2007, which consist primarily of our debt obligations and the associated
payments due in future periods, are presented in the table below:
Payments Due by Period
(in millions) Total Year 1
Years
2–3
Years
4–5
More than
5 years
Debt obligations(a) $ 31,251 $ 1,479 $ 3,718 $ 2,638 $ 23,416
Capital lease obligations 72 16 35 6 15
Operating lease obligations 2,016 323 521 337 835
Purchase obligations(b) 13,382 3,057 3,273 2,671 4,381
Other long-term liabilities reflected on the balance sheet:
Acquisition-related obligations(c) 231 149 65 9 8
Other long-term obligations(d) 4,448 153 378 246 3,671
Total $ 51,400 $ 5,177 $ 7,990 $ 5,907 $ 32,326
Refer to Note 8 (long-term debt) and Note 14 (commitments) to our consolidated financial statements.
(a) Excludes interest payments.
(b) Purchase obligations consist of agreements to purchase goods and services that are legally binding on us and specify all significant terms, including fixed or minimum quanti-
ties to be purchased and price provisions. Our purchase obligations are primarily related to our Cable segment, including contracts with programming networks, customer
premise equipment manufacturers, communication vendors, other cable operators for which we provide advertising sales representation, and other contracts entered into in
the normal course of business. We also have purchase obligations through Comcast Spectacor for the players and coaches of our professional sports teams. We did not
include contracts with immaterial future commitments.
(c) Acquisition-related obligations consist primarily of costs related to exiting contractual obligations and other assumed contractual obligations of the acquired entity.
(d) Other long-term obligations consist primarily of our prepaid forward sales transactions of equity securities we hold; subsidiary preferred shares; effectively settled tax positions
and related interest; deferred compensation obligations; pension, post-retirement and post-employment benefit obligations; and programming rights payable under license
agreements. Reserves for uncertain tax positions of approximately $1.5 billion are not included in the table above. We have not yet entered into substantive settlement dis-
cussions with taxing authorities and therefore cannot reasonably estimate the amounts or timing of payments related to any such positions.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We do not have any significant off-balance sheet arrangements
that are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our
financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, capital expendi-
tures or capital resources.
Critical Accounting Judgments and Estimates
The preparation of our financial statements requires us to make
estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities,
revenues and expenses, and the related disclosure of contingent
assets and contingent liabilities. We base our judgments on histor-
ical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe
are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form
the basis for making estimates about the carrying values of assets
and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual
results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions
or conditions.
We believe our judgments and related estimates associated with
the valuation and impairment testing of our cable franchise rights
and the accounting for income taxes and legal contingencies are
critical in the preparation of our financial statements. Management
has discussed the development and selection of these critical
accounting judgments and estimates with the Audit Committee of
our Board of Directors, and the Audit Committee has reviewed our
disclosures relating to them, which are presented below.
Refer to Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements for a
discussion of our accounting policies with respect to these and
other items.
31 Comcast 2007 Annual Report on Form 10-K