Comcast 2015 Annual Report Download - page 105

Comcast Corporation
Note 12: Postretirement, Pension and Other Employee Benefit Plans
The table below provides condensed information on our postretirement and pension benefit plans.
2015 2014 2013
Year ended December 31 (in millions)
Postretirement
Benefits
Pension
Benefits
Postretirement
Benefits
Pension
Benefits
Postretirement
Benefits
Pension
Benefits
Benefit obligation $ 820 $ 309 $ 837 $ 581 $ 633 $ 498
Fair value of plan assets(a) —— — 242 — 220
Plan funded status and recorded
benefit obligation (820) (309) (837) (339) (633) (278)
Portion of benefit obligation not
yet recognized in benefits
expense (33) 14 46 53 (110) (3)
Benefits expense 75 13 59 14 65 12
Discount rate 4.70-4.73% 4.31-4.40% 4.25% 3.75-4.25% 5.00-5.25% 4.50-5.25%
Expected return on plan assets N/A N/A N/A 5.00% N/A 5.00%
(a) The fair value of the plan assets are primarily based on Level 1 inputs that use quoted market prices for identical financial instruments in
an active market.
Postretirement Benefit Plans
We sponsor various benefit plans that provide postretirement benefits to eligible employees based on years of
service. The Comcast Postretirement Healthcare Stipend Program (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.
NBCUniversal’s postretirement medical and life insurance plans provide continuous coverage to employees
eligible to receive such benefits. A small number of eligible employees also participate in legacy plans of
acquired companies.
All of our postretirement benefit plans are unfunded and substantially all of our postretirement benefit obliga-
tions are recorded to noncurrent liabilities. The expense we recognize for our postretirement benefit plans is
determined using certain assumptions, including the discount rate.
Pension Plans
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal sponsors various qualified and nonqualified defined benefit plans for domestic employees for
which future benefits have been frozen since the beginning of 2013, therefore we did not recognize service
costs related to our pension plans for the periods presented. The expense we recognize for our defined bene-
fit 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 in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). In addition to the defined benefit plans
it sponsors, NBCUniversal is also obligated to reimburse GE for future benefit payments to those participants
who were vested in the supplemental pension plan sponsored by GE at the time of the NBCUniversal trans-
action in 2011.
In September 2015, we settled all of our obligations related to the termination in December 2013 of the
NBCUniversal qualified pension plan. In connection with this final settlement, we fully funded the plan with an
Comcast 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K 102