Comcast 2012 Annual Report Download - page 9

Table of Contents
Sources of Supply
To offer our video services, we license a substantial portion of our programming from cable and broadcast networks, as well as local
broadcast television stations. We attempt to secure long-
term programming distribution agreements with our content providers. We
also license individual programs or packages of programs from programming suppliers for our On Demand and streaming services.
We seek to include in our distribution arrangements the rights to offer such programming to our subscribers through multiple delivery
platforms that may be used in a variety of locations, such as through On Demand and XFINITY.net and through our mobile apps for
smartphones and tablets.
Our video programming expenses are affected by the programming license fees charged by cable networks and fees for
retransmission of local broadcast television stations’
signals and by the number of video customers we serve and the amount of
content we provide. We anticipate that our programming expenses will continue to increase.
We purchase from a limited number of suppliers a significant number of set-
top boxes, network equipment and services that we use
in providing our cable services.
For our high-
speed Internet services, we license software products (such as email and security software) and content (such as news
feeds) for our portal, XFINITY.net, 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.
For our voice services, we license software products (such as voicemail and text messaging) from a variety of suppliers under
multiyear contracts. The fees we pay are generally based on the consumption of the related services.
We use two vendors to provide customer billing for our cable services.
Customer and Technical Services
Our customer service call centers provide 24/7 call-
answering capability, telemarketing and other services. Our technical services
group performs various tasks, including installations, plant maintenance and upgrades to our cable distribution system.
Sales and Marketing
We offer our 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 market our cable
services both individually and as bundled services. In addition, in 2012, Verizon Wireless became an agent to sell our cable services
in many of the markets in which we provide our cable services.
NBCUniversal Segments
In 2011, we closed the NBCUniversal and Universal Orlando transactions in which we acquired control of the businesses of
NBCUniversal and Universal Orlando, respectively. For additional information on the NBCUniversal and Universal Orlando
transactions, refer to Note 4 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Comcast 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K
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