Comcast 2010 Annual Report Download - page 9

Table of Contents
5
Comcast 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-
K
Other Revenue Sources
We also generate revenue from our digital media center,
commissions from electronic retailing networks and fees from
other services.
Sources of Supply
To offer our video services, we license a substantial portion
of our programming and the associated On Demand offerings
from broadcast and cable programming networks, and we
generally pay a monthly fee for such programming on a per
video subscriber, per channel basis. We attempt to secure
long-term programming licenses with volume discounts
and/or marketing support and incentives from these
programming networks. We also license individual programs
or packages of programs from programming suppliers for our
On Demand service and for viewing online, generally under
shorter-term agreements.
Our video programming expenses depend on the number of
our video customers, the number of channels and programs
we provide, and the programming license fees we are
charged. We expect our video programming expenses to
continue to be our largest single expense item and to
continue to increase in the future.
We purchase from a limited number of suppliers a significant
number of set-top boxes and network equipment and
services that we use in providing our cable services.
For our high-speed Internet portal, Comcast.net, we license
software products (such as e-mail and security software) and
content (such as news feeds) from a variety of suppliers
under contracts in which we generally pay on a fixed-fee
basis, on a per subscriber basis in the case of software
product licenses or on a video advertising revenue share
basis in the case of content licenses.
To offer our phone services, we license software products
(such as voice mail) from a variety of suppliers under
multiyear contracts. The fees we pay generally are based on
the consumption of the related services.
We use two vendors to provide our customer billing for our
cable services.
Customer and Technical Services
We service our customers through local, regional and
national call and technical centers. Call centers provide 24/7
call-answering capability, telemarketing and other services.
Our technical services group performs various tasks,
including installations, transmission and distribution plant
maintenance, plant upgrades, and activities related to
customer service.
Technology
Our cable distribution system employs a network architecture
of hybrid fiber coax that we believe is sufficiently flexible and
scalable
to support our future technology requirements. This network
allows the two-way delivery of transmissions, which is
essential to providing interactive video services, such as On
Demand, and high-speed Internet and phone services.
We continue to work on technology initiatives, including:
Sales and Marketing
We offer our products and services directly to residential and
business customers through our call centers, door-to-door
selling, direct mail advertising, television advertising, Internet
advertising, local media advertising, telemarketing and retail
outlets. We also market our video, high-speed Internet and
phone services individually and as bundled services.
Competition
We operate our businesses in an intensely competitive
environment. Our cable services compete with a number of
different companies that offer a broad range of services
through increasingly diverse means. Competition for the
cable services we offer
•
developing cross-
service functionality that integrates key
features of two or more of our services (such as universal
caller ID and a remotely programmable DVR)
•
deploying multiple tools to recapture bandwidth and
optimize our network, including transitioning from analog to
digital transmission as part of our all digital conversion,
increasing the number of nodes in a service area, and
using advanced video encoding and digital compression
technologies
•
developing technology and software to better identify
problems with our cable services and to allow for better
integration of our software with third party software
•
working with members of CableLabs, a nonprofit research
and development consortium founded by members of the
cable industry, to develop and integrate a common
software platform, known as tru2way, that enables cable
companies, content developers, network programmers,
consumer electronics companies and others to extend
interactivity to the TV set and other types of devices
•
developing wireless options to extend our services outside
the home to provide mobility and create new features that
are integrated with our services, including through our
relationship with Clearwire and the deployment of Wi-
Fi in
portions of our service areas
•
offering of certain programming to our customers online
through Xfinity TV
•
enabling various consumer electronic devices, including
computers, tablets, connected TVs and smartphones, to
search, control and display the content and video services
we provide