Comcast 2014 Annual Report Download - page 41

Table of Contents
tenance of these systems is costly and requires ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies change and efforts to overcome
security measures become more sophisticated. Despite any efforts to prevent these events and security breaches, there can be no
assurance that they will not occur in the future or will not have an adverse effect on our businesses. Moreover, the amount and
scope of insurance we maintain against losses resulting from any such events or security breaches may not be sufficient to cover
our losses or otherwise adequately compensate us for any disruptions to our business that may result, and the occurrence of any
such events or security breaches could have an adverse effect on our business.
We may be unable to obtain necessary hardware, software and operational support.
We depend on third-
party vendors to supply us with a significant amount of the hardware, software and operational support
necessary to provide certain of our services. Some of these vendors represent our primary source of supply or grant us the right to
incorporate their intellectual property into some of our hardware and software products. While we actively monitor the operations
and financial condition of key vendors in an attempt to detect any potential difficulties, there can be no assurance that we would
timely identify any operating or financial difficulties associated with these vendors or that we could effectively mitigate our risks with
respect to any such difficulties. If any of these vendors experience operating or financial difficulties, if our demand exceeds their
capacity or if they are otherwise unable to meet our specifications or provide the equipment or services we need in a timely manner
or at reasonable prices, our ability to provide some services may be adversely affected.
Weak economic conditions may have a negative impact on our businesses.
A substantial portion of our revenue comes from customers whose spending patterns may be affected by prevailing economic
conditions. Weak economic conditions could adversely affect demand for any of our products and services and have a negative
impact on our results of operations. For example, customers may reduce the level of cable services to which they subscribe, or may
discontinue subscribing to one or more of our cable services. This risk may be increased by the expanded availability of free or
lower cost competitive services, such as subscription video on demand services, or substitute services for our high-
speed Internet
and phone services, such as mobile phones, smartphones and Wi-
Fi networks. Weak economic conditions also may have a
negative impact on our advertising revenue, the performance of our films and home entertainment releases, and attendance and
spending in our theme parks business. Weak economic conditions and turmoil in the global financial markets may also impair the
ability of third parties to satisfy their obligations to us, and any disruption in the global financial markets may affect our ability to
obtain financing on acceptable terms.
Our businesses depend on using and protecting certain intellectual property rights and on not infringing the intellectual
property rights of others.
We rely on our intellectual property, such as patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, as well as licenses and other
agreements with our vendors and other third parties, to use various technologies, conduct our operations and sell our products and
services. Legal challenges to our intellectual property rights and claims of intellectual property infringement by third parties could
require that we enter into royalty or licensing agreements on unfavorable terms, incur substantial monetary liability or be enjoined
preliminarily or permanently from further use of the intellectual property in question or from the continuation of our businesses as
currently conducted. We may need to change our business practices if any of these events occur, which may limit our ability to
compete effectively and could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. Even if we believe any such challenges or
claims are without merit, they can be time-consuming and costly to defend and divert management’
s attention and resources away
from our businesses. Moreover, if we are unable to obtain or continue to obtain licenses from our vendors and other third parties on
reasonable terms, our businesses could be adversely affected.
In addition, intellectual property constitutes a significant part of the value of NBCUniversal’
s businesses, and its success is highly
dependent on protecting intellectual property rights in the content it creates or acquires against third-
party misappropriation,
reproduction or infringement. The unauthorized reproduction, dis-
Comcast 2014 Annual Report on Form 10
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