Comcast 2014 Annual Report Download - page 22

Table of Contents
with franchising authorities. In addition, our businesses are subject to compliance with the terms of the FCC Order approving the
NBCUniversal transaction (the “NBCUniversal Order”)
and a consent decree entered into between us, the Department of Justice
(“DOJ”) and five states (the “NBCUniversal Consent Decree”),
which contain conditions and commitments of varying duration,
ranging from three to seven years after September 2011.
Legislators and regulators at all levels of government frequently consider changing, and sometimes do change, existing statutes,
rules or regulations, or interpretations of existing statutes, rules or regulations, or prescribe new ones, which may significantly affect
our businesses. For example, in February 2015, the FCC adopted new open Internet regulations that reclassify broadband Internet
service as a “telecommunications service,”
making it subject to common carriage regulations under Title II of the Communications
Act. In addition, in February 2015, the FCC adopted an order that preempted certain state laws that had restricted municipalities
from operating municipally owned broadband networks. See “Cable Communications Segment – High Speed Internet Services”
below. Congress also is expected to consider a number of legislative proposals addressing communications issues, including
whether it should rewrite the entire Communications Act to account for changes in the communications marketplace, how it should
address the FCC’
s authority to implement open Internet regulations, and whether it should modify rules relating to cable distribution
of local broadcast television stations. We are unable to predict whether any such proposals will be enacted into law, or how any
such changes would ultimately affect our businesses. We are also seeking regulatory approvals from federal, state and local
authorities relating to our acquisition of cable systems from Time Warner Cable and Charter and cannot predict what conditions
might be applied to any such approvals or how such conditions might affect our businesses.
The following paragraphs summarize material existing and potential future legal and regulatory requirements affecting our
businesses, although reference should be made to the Communications Act, FCC regulations, the NBCUniversal Order, the
NBCUniversal Consent Decree, and other legislation and regulations for further information.
Cable Communications Segment
Video Services
Program Carriage
The Communications Act and FCC regulations prohibit cable operators and other multichannel video providers from requiring a
financial interest in, or exclusive distribution rights for, any video programming network as a condition of carriage, or from
unreasonably restraining the ability of an unaffiliated programming network to compete fairly by discriminating against the network
on the basis of its non-
affiliation in the selection, terms or conditions for carriage. The FCC is considering proposals to further
expand program carriage regulations that may be disadvantageous to us. In addition, the NBCUniversal Order prohibits
discriminating against a network on the basis of its non-
affiliation in the selection, terms or conditions for carriage, and requires that,
if we place news and/or business news channels in a channel lineup “neighborhood,”
we must place all independent news and
business news channels in that neighborhood. In early 2014, we settled a complaint filed by Bloomberg Television at the FCC
involving this condition. We have been involved in other program carriage disputes at the FCC and may continue to be subject to
program carriage complaints in the future. Adverse decisions in disputes under the program carriage regulations or NBCUniversal
Order conditions could negatively affect our business.
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Comcast 2014 Annual Report on Form 10
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