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Included in the table above are specific payments for the U.S. television rights to the 2012 London Olympics.
This programming commitment was considered an unfavorable contract in the application of acquisition
accounting for the NBCUniversal transaction. We recorded a liability related to this contract which will be
reversed in our consolidated financial statements at the time the corresponding revenue and expenses asso-
ciated with this contract is recognized.
The table below presents our rental expense charged to operations.
Year ended December 31 (in millions) 2011 2010 2009
Rental expense $ 570 $ 424 $ 418
Other Commitments
In connection with the NBCUniversal and Universal Orlando transactions, we assumed two contractual obliga-
tions that involve perpetual financial interests held by third parties in certain NBCUniversal businesses. These
interests are based upon a percentage of future revenue of the specified businesses. One of the contractual
obligations provides the third party with the option, beginning in 2017, to require NBCUniversal to purchase
the interest for cash in an amount equal to the fair value of the estimated future payments. These liabilities
were recorded at fair value as of their respective acquisition dates, and subsequent fair value adjustments to
these liabilities are recorded in other income (expense), net in our consolidated statement of income. Fair
values are determined based on the terms of the contracts and Level 3 inputs, primarily including discounted
future expected cash flows. As of December 31, 2011, these liabilities totaled $1 billion and the related
expenses recognized in other income (expense), net in 2011 were $57 million.
Station Venture
NBCUniversal owns a 79.62% equity interest and a 50% voting interest in Station Venture Holdings, LLC
(“Station Venture”), a variable interest entity. The remaining equity interests in Station Venture are held by LIN
TV, Corp. (“LIN TV”). Station Venture holds an indirect interest in the NBC owned local television stations in
Dallas, Texas and San Diego, California through its ownership interests in Station Venture Operations, LP
(“Station LP”), a less than wholly owned consolidated subsidiary of NBCUniversal. Station Venture is the obli-
gor on an $816 million senior secured note that is due in 2023 to General Electric Capital Corporation, as
servicer. The note is nonrecourse to NBCUniversal, guaranteed by LIN TV and collateralized by substantially
all of the assets of Station Venture and Station LP. In connection with the close of the NBCUniversal trans-
action, GE indemnified NBCUniversal for all liabilities NBCUniversal may incur as a result of any credit
support, risk of loss or similar arrangement related to the senior secured note in existence prior to the close.
We are not the primary beneficiary of, and accordingly do not consolidate, Station Venture. The carrying value
of our equity method investment in Station Venture was zero as of December 31, 2011. Because the assets
of Station LP serve as collateral for Station Venture’s $816 million senior secured note, we have recorded a
$482 million liability in our allocation of purchase price for the NBCUniversal transaction, which represents the
fair value of the assets allocated in acquisition accounting that collateralize the note.
Contingencies
Antitrust Cases
We are defendants in two purported class actions originally filed in December 2003 in the United States Dis-
trict Courts for the District of Massachusetts and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The potential class in
the Massachusetts case, which has been transferred to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, is our customer
base in the “Boston Cluster” area, and the potential class in the Pennsylvania case is our customer base in
the “Philadelphia and Chicago Clusters,” as those terms are defined in the complaints. In each case, the
plaintiffs allege that certain customer exchange transactions with other cable providers resulted in unlawful
horizontal market restraints in those areas and seek damages under antitrust statutes, including treble dam-
ages.
121 Comcast 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K