Comcast 2012 Annual Report Download - page 70

Table of Contents
GE Redemption Rights
Under the terms of the operating agreement of NBCUniversal Holdings, during the six month period beginning July 28, 2014, GE has
the right to cause NBCUniversal Holdings to redeem, in cash, half of GE’
s interest in NBCUniversal Holdings, and during the six
month period beginning January 28, 2018, GE has the right to cause NBCUniversal Holdings to redeem GE’
s remaining interest, if
any. If GE exercises its first redemption right, we have the immediate right to purchase the remainder of GE’
s interest. Subject to
various limitations, we are committed to fund up to $2.875 billion in cash or our common stock for each of the two redemptions (up to
an aggregate of $5.75 billion) to the extent NBCUniversal Holdings cannot fund the redemptions, with amounts not used in the first
redemption to be available for the second redemption. None of these amounts are included in the table above. See Note 4 to our
consolidated financial statements for additional information.
On February 12, 2013, we entered into an agreement to acquire GE’
s 49% common equity interest in NBCUniversal Holdings. See
Note 21 to our consolidated financial statements for additional information.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of December 31, 2012, we did not have any material off
-
balance sheet arrangements that are reasonably likely to have a current
or future effect on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources.
Critical Accounting Judgments and Estimates
The preparation of our consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets,
liabilities, revenue and expenses, and the related disclosure of contingent assets and contingent liabilities. We base our judgments
on our historical 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,
the accounting for film and television costs, and the accounting for income taxes are
of the commitments to acquire film and television programming, including U.S. television rights to future Olympic Games through 2020, Sunday Night Football
on NBC
through the 2022-23 season, including the Super Bowl in 2015, 2018 and 2021, NHL games through the 2020-21 season, Spanish-
language U.S. television rights to FIFA
World Cup games through 2022, U.S television rights to English Premier League soccer games through the 2015-
16 season and certain PGA TOUR golf events through
2021, as well as obligations under various creative talent and employment agreements, including obligations to actors, producers, television personalities and executives,
and various other television commitments. Purchase obligations do not include contracts with immaterial future commitments.
(c)
Other long
-
term obligations consist primarily of prepaid forward sale agreements of equity securities we hold; subsidiary preferred shares; deferred compensation
obligations; pension, postretirement and postemployment benefit obligations; the contingent consideration obligation related to the NBCUniversal transaction; and certain
contractual obligations acquired in connection with the NBCUniversal and Universal Orlando transactions. These contractual obligations involve financial interests held by
third parties in certain NBCUniversal businesses and are based on a percentage of future revenue of the specified businesses. One of these 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. Reserves for uncertain tax positions of $1.6 billion are not included in the table above because it is uncertain if and when these reserves will become
payable. Payments of $1.8 billion of participations and residuals are also not included in the table above because we cannot make a reliable estimate of the period in which
these obligations will be settled.
(d)
Total contractual obligations are made up of the following components.
(in millions)
Liabilities recorded on the balance sheet
$
52,032
Commitments not recorded on the balance sheet
41,208
Total
$
93,240
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Comcast 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-
K