Comcast 2014 Annual Report Download - page 29

Table of Contents
and other applications are pending due to unresolved complaints of alleged indecency in the stations’
programming. Although we
have received such renewals in the past, there can be no assurance that we will always obtain them.
Ownership Limits
FCC regulations limit the ability of individuals and entities to have “attributable interests”
above specific levels in local television
stations, as well as other specified mass media entities, such as limits on the cross-
ownership of broadcast stations and
newspapers in the same market. The FCC, by law, must review the ownership regulations detailed below once every four years.
The review initiated in 2010 was not completed. Instead, it has been incorporated into the quadrennial review initiated in 2014. The
FCC expects to complete the review in 2016. There are also several pending court challenges to the ownership regulations. We
cannot predict when the FCC’s current review will be completed or whether or how any of these regulations will change.
Local Television Ownership
Under the FCC’
s local television ownership rule, a licensee may own up to two broadcast television stations in the same DMA, as
long as at least one of the two stations is not among the top four-
ranked stations in the market based on audience share as of the
date an application for approval of an acquisition is filed with the FCC and at least eight independently owned and operating full-
power broadcast television stations remain in the market following the acquisition. Further, without regard to the number of
remaining independently owned television stations, the rule permits the ownership of more than one television station within the
same DMA so long as certain signal contours of the stations involved do not overlap.
National Television Ownership
The Communications Act and FCC regulations limit the number of broadcast television stations one entity may own or control
nationally. Under the rule, no entity may have an attributable interest in broadcast television stations that reach, in the aggregate,
more than 39% of all U.S. television households. Our owned television station reach does not exceed this limit. In 2013, the FCC
launched a rulemaking that considers eliminating a rule that currently affords UHF stations (channels 14 and above) a 50%
discount in calculating the extent of an individual station owner’
s holdings under the national cap. Adoption of this proposed change
would place us closer to the national cap and limit our flexibility to acquire stations in the future.
Foreign Ownership
The Communications Act generally limits foreign ownership in a broadcast station to 20% direct ownership and 25% indirect
ownership (i.e., through one or more subsidiaries), although the limit on indirect ownership can be waived if the FCC finds it to be in
the public interest. For many decades the FCC has declined to waive the 25% indirect limit in broadcast transactions, but in a 2013
declaratory ruling, the FCC stated that it is now willing to consider such waiver requests.
Dual Network Rule
The dual network rule prohibits any of the four major broadcast television networks, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, from being under
common ownership or control with another of the four.
Must-Carry/Retransmission Consent
Every three years, each commercial television station must elect for each cable system in its DMA either must-
carry or
retransmission consent. A similar regulatory scheme applies to satellite providers. For the current period, which ends on
December 31, 2017, all of our owned NBC broadcast television stations and our owned Telemundo broadcast television stations
elected retransmission consent.
Comcast 2014 Annual Report on Form 10
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