Comcast 2013 Annual Report Download - page 170

Table of Contents
NBCUniversal Media, LLC
Note 11: Postretirement, Pension and Other Employee Benefit Plans
The table below provides condensed information on our postretirement and pension benefit plans.
Postretirement Benefit Plans
We have postretirement medical and life insurance plans that provide continuous coverage to employees eligible to receive such
benefits and give credit for length of service provided before the close of the Joint Venture transaction.
Substantially all of the employees that joined NBCUniversal from the Comcast Content Business at the close of the Joint Venture
transaction participate in a postretirement healthcare stipend program (the “stipend plan”).
The stipend plan provides an annual
stipend for reimbursement of healthcare costs to each eligible employee based on years of service. Under the stipend plan, we are
not exposed to the increasing costs of healthcare because the benefits are fixed at a predetermined amount.
All of our postretirement benefit plans are unfunded and substantially all of our postretirement benefit obligations are recorded to
noncurrent liabilities. The expense we recognize related to our postretirement benefit plans is determined using certain
assumptions, including the discount rate.
Pension Plans
We sponsor various domestic qualified and nonqualified defined benefit plans for which future benefits were frozen effective
December 31, 2012. We ceased to recognize service costs associated with these defined benefit plans following the date on which
future benefits were frozen. The expense we recognize related to our defined benefit plans is determined using certain
assumptions, including the discount rate and the expected long-
term rate of return on plan assets. We recognize the funded or
unfunded status of our defined benefit plans as an asset or liability in our consolidated balance sheet and recognize changes in the
funded status in the year in which the changes occur through accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). In the
Successor
Year Ended December 31,
2013
Year Ended December 31,
2012
For the Period January 29,
2011 to December 31,
2011
(in millions)
Postretirement
Benefits
Pension
Benefits
Postretirement
Benefits
Pension
Benefits
Postretirement
Benefits
Pension
Benefits
Benefit obligation
$
158
$
498
$
177
$
546
$
161
$
427
Fair value of plan assets
—
220
—
217
—
—
Plan funded status and recorded benefit
obligation
(158
)
(278
)
(177
)
(329
)
(161
)
(427
)
Portion of benefit obligation not yet recognized
in benefit expense
(44
)
(3
)
(11
)
53
(13
)
71
Benefits expense
14
12
15
142
14
111
Discount rate
5.25
%
4.5
-
5.25
%
4.25
%
3.75-
4.25
%
4.75
%
4.75-
5.25
%
Expected return on plan assets
N/A
5.00
%
N/A
5.00
%
N/A
N/A
(a)
The fair value of the plan assets are primarily based on Level 1 inputs using quoted market prices for identical financial instruments in an active market.
(b)
We did not recognize service cost in 2013 as our pension plans were frozen. The 2012 and 2011 amounts included service costs related to our pension benefits of $134
million and $99 million, respectively.
165
Comcast 2013 Annual Report on Form 10-
K
(a)
(b)