Comcast 2013 Annual Report Download - page 120

Table of Contents
Comcast Corporation
The table below summarizes our minimum annual programming and talent commitments and our minimum annual rental
commitments for office space, equipment and transponder service agreements under operating leases. Programming and talent
commitments include acquired film and television programming, including U.S. television rights to the future Olympic Games
through 2020, Sunday Night Football on NBC through the 2022-
23 season, and other programming commitments, as well as our
various contracts with creative talent and employment agreements.
The table below presents our rent expense charged to operations.
Contingencies
Antitrust Cases
We are defendants in two purported class actions originally filed in December 2003 in the United States District 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 damages.
Classes of Chicago Cluster and Philadelphia Cluster customers were certified in October 2007 and January 2010, respectively. We
appealed the class certification in the Philadelphia Cluster case to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the class
certification in August 2011. In June 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court granted our petition to review the Third Circuit Court of Appeals’
ruling and in March 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the class had been improperly certified and reversed the judgment of the
Third Circuit. The matter has been returned to the District Court for action consistent with the Supreme Court’
s opinion. In August
2013, a plaintiff in the Philadelphia Cluster case moved to certify a new, smaller class. The District Court denied our September
2013 motion to strike the plaintiffs’ motion on procedural grounds, and a decision on the plaintiffs’
motion is expected in 2014. The
plaintiffs’ claims concerning the other two clusters are stayed pending determination of the Philadelphia Cluster claims.
In addition, we are the defendant in 22 purported class actions filed in federal district courts throughout the country. All of these
actions have been consolidated by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania for pre-
trial proceedings. In a consolidated complaint filed in November 2009 on behalf of all plaintiffs in the
multidistrict litigation, the plaintiffs allege that we improperly “tie” the rental of set-
top boxes to the provision of premium cable
services in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, various state antitrust laws and unfair/deceptive trade
As of December 31, 2013 (in millions)
Programming and
Talent Commitments
Operating
Leases
2014 $
4,899
$
385
2015 $
3,190
$
335
2016 $
4,039
$
293
2017 $
2,755
$
252
2018 $
3,672
$
206
Thereafter $
20,522
$
673
Year ended December 31 (in millions)
2013
2012
2011
Rent expense
$
616
$
688
$
570
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Comcast 2013 Annual Report on Form 10
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