Comcast 2012 Annual Report Download - page 11

Table of Contents
Broadcast Television
Our Broadcast Television segment operates the NBC and Telemundo broadcast television networks, which together serve
audiences and advertisers in all 50 states. Our Broadcast Television segment also includes our owned NBC and Telemundo local
broadcast television stations, our broadcast television production operations, and our related digital media properties.
Our Broadcast Television segment generates revenue primarily from the sale of advertising and from content licensing. Advertising
revenue is generated from the sale of advertising time on our broadcast networks, owned local television stations and related digital
media properties. Content licensing revenue is generated from the licensing of our owned programming in the United States and
internationally, including to cable and broadcast networks and digital distributors, such as Netflix. We also generate revenue from the
sale of our owned programming on standard-definition DVDs and Blu ray discs (together, “DVDs”)
and through other digital
distributors, such as iTunes. In addition, our owned local television stations are beginning to receive fees from multichannel video
providers in exchange for retransmission consent that allows carriage of the stations’
signals. We also receive a portion of the
retransmission fees received by our NBC affiliated broadcast television stations. We expect these fees to increase in the future as
we, as well as our NBC affiliated broadcast television stations, renegotiate distribution agreements with multichannel video providers.
NBC Network
The NBC network distributes more than 5,000 hours of entertainment, news and sports programming annually, and its programs
reach viewers in virtually all U.S. television households through more than 200 affiliated stations across the United States, including
our 10 NBC owned local television stations. The NBC network develops a broad range of entertainment, news and sports content
and also airs a variety of special-events programming. The NBC network’
s television library consists of rights of varying nature to
more than 100,000 episodes of popular television content, including current and classic titles, unscripted programming, sports, news,
long-form and short-
form programming, and locally produced programming from around the world. In addition, the NBC network
operates various websites that extend its brands and content online.
The NBC network produces its own programs or acquires the rights to programming from third parties. NBCUniversal has various
contractual commitments for the licensing of rights to multiyear programming, primarily sports programming. Our most significant
sports programming commitments include an agreement with the NFL to produce and broadcast a specified number of regular
season and playoff games, including Sunday Night Football on NBC through the 2022-
23 season and the 2015, 2018 and 2021
Super Bowl games. In addition, the NBC network owns the U.S. broadcast rights for the summer and winter Olympic Games through
2020. We also have broadcast rights to a specified number of NHL games through the 2020-
21 season, U.S television rights to
English Premier League Soccer beginning in 2013 through the 2015-
16 season and certain PGA TOUR golf events through 2021.
NBCUniversal’
s sports programming agreements also include rights to distribute content on our national cable networks, including
NBC Sports Network and Golf Channel, on our regional sports networks where applicable, and also online, including through mobile
apps available for smartphones and tablets.
Our broadcast television production operations develop and produce original content, including scripted and unscripted series and
talk shows that are licensed to broadcast networks, cable networks, local broadcast television stations and other distribution
platforms owned by us and third parties, as well as through the sale of DVDs, both in the United States and internationally. We also
produce “first-run”
syndicated shows, which are programs for initial exhibition on local television stations in the United States, on a
market-by-
market basis, without prior exhibition on a network. We currently distribute some of our television programs after their
initial exhibition, as well as older television programs from our library, to local broadcast television stations and cable networks in the
off-network syndication market.
Comcast 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K
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