Comcast

Type:	Public
Industry:	Telecommunications
Founded:	1963
Founder(s):	Ralph J. Roberts Daniel Aaron Julian A. Brodsky
Headquarters:	One Comcast Center Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Country:	USA
Employees:	102,000
Revenue:	$37.937 as of 2010
Website:	www.comcast.com
Blog:	Comcast Voices
Facebook:	Comcast
LinkedIn:	Comcast
Twitter:	@comcast
Key People
Brian L. Roberts, Chairman, President, & CEO

Comcast is a media, entertainment and communications provider in the United States. Its primary business involves the operation of cable systems via Comcast Cable which provides video, high-speed internet and telephone services for residential and business establishments. The company also owns a majority share of NBC Universal, owner and operator of entertainment and news cable networks such as the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, local TV stations, TV & motion picture production studios and theme parks. The company trades at NASDAQ under the ticker symbols CMCSA and CMCSK. The company's headquarters is located in Philadelphia, PA. Brian L. Roberts serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast.

Origins of Comcast

On November 13, 1963, Ralph Roberts purchased American Cable Systems, a small cable TV operator owned by Jerrold Electronics in Tupelo Mississippi for $500,000 after selling his interest in Pioneer Industries. At that time, American Cable Systems has only five channels available for its 1,500 subscribers. Roberts believed that the business has a great potential. After purchasing the company, Roberts encouraged Daniel Aaron, systems director and Julian Brodsky, CPA; both employees from Jerrod Electronics to join him manage the business. According to Roberts, his objective was to bring television to people who couldn’t receive television signals because they are located in areas that were too far from TV stations or they are located in a small market with only one TV station running.

In 1969, Roberts re-branded American Cable Systems and incorporated the company as Comcast Corporation in Pennsylvania. The name of the company was coined from the blending of the words communications and broadcast to provide the company with a more technological distinction.

Initial Public Offering

In 1972, Comcast went public at $7 per share and sold 430,000 shares. Comcast has a dual share structure with Class A and Class B shares. Only the Class A shares were offered to the public. Each share is equivalent to one vote Roberts holds Class B shares wherein per share is equivalent to 15 votes. This ensures that he will still control majority votes (80%) of the company even if it went public. Until today, the Roberts family owned Class B shares.

Company Expansion

The following years, Comcast acquired several cable franchises in different locations including Paducah, Kentucky; Flint, Hillsdale and Jonesville, Warren, Clinton, Sterling Heights and St. Clair Shores in Michigan; Northern New Jersey; Lower Merion, Pennsylvania; and Corinth, Mississippi. The company also acquired the Muzak franchises in Indianapolis, Buffalo, Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Peoria, Illinois in 1983. During the same year, Comcast expanded in United Kingdom through its partnership with Ladboke, a gambling and entertainment company. Comcast secured a license to provide cable television systems to residents in suburban London.

In 1986, the company acquired 26 percent of Group W. This acquisition doubled the company's cable subscribers to 1.2 million and provided founding investments for QVC, a television home shopping company. In 1988, the company purchased 50 percent stakes Storer Communications, Inc. The company became the fifth largest cable systems operator in the United States with more than 2 million subscribers. During the same year, the company also acquired American Cellular Network Corporation (AMCELL).

In 1990, Ralph Roberts named his son Brian Roberts as President of the Company while he remain as the company's Chairman. The company also bought additional franchises in London which enabled the company to provide cable services in Cambridge and Birmingham and increased its subscribers in UK to one million. By 1993, the company's Amcell and Metropone customers reached more than 7.3 million customers.

In 1995, the company purchased 57.45% stakes of QVC valued at $46 per share. The company assumed the management of the company. The following year 1996, Comcast acquired E.W. Scripps Company with 93.049 million shares of Class A Special Common Stocks valued at $1.552 billion. During the same year, the company engaged in a sports venture and launched Comcast-Spectator after purchasing NHL Philadelphia Flyers, the NBA Philadelphia 76ers, the First Union Spectrum and the First Union Center. The company also created the Comcast SportsNet Channel. In addition, the company also entered in the broadband business after acquiring Sarasota Online, the largest internet provider in Florida owned by Richard Swier.

On March 22, 1999, Comcast announced entered a $60 billion merger transaction with MediaOne Group Inc.. The combined company's capitalization was valued at approximately $97 billion and it will become one of the largest broadband networks in the United States with 8 clusters with more than 500,000 costumers per cluster and it will also serve more than 11 million cable subscribers. However, MediaOne terminated the merger agreement and paid Comcast $1.5 billion termination fee.

On November 18 2002, Comcast acquired AT&T Cable for $47 billion in stocks and assumed the company's $25 billion debt. The combined company was named AT&T Comcast Corporation. Comcast President Brian Roberts assumed the position of the CEO while AT&Ts CEO Michael Armstrong became the Chairman of the new company with an estimated 22 million subscribers. The projected annual revenue was $19 billion.

In 2005, Comcast joined a group of investor that acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM), an independent and privately-owned motion picture, television, home video, and theatrical production and distribution company.

In 2006, Comcast entered into a long-term distribution agreement with Walt Disney's Media Networks and Services including some of ABC's primetime series. The company also acquired Walt Disney's 39.5 stake ($1.2 billion) in E! Networks. Comcast became the sole owner of E! Networks.

In 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the joint venture between Comcast and GE with certain conditions.Under the terms of the merger agreement, Comcast paid GE $13.8 billion to form NBC Universal LLC., wherein 51% percent of newly formed company is owned by Comcast and the remaining 49% is owned by GE. The operations of NBC Universal will be managed by Comcast excluding the Hulu Online Video Services since the management of the service is shared by NBC with News Corp. and Walt Disney Co. Comcast will not interfere with subscribers web traffic and it will share the NBC programming with its competitors and to provide more high-speed internet to communities wit limited access.

Products & Services

The company offers the following products to consumers:

• Xfinity TV
• Xfinity Internet
• Xfinity Voice
• Comcast Business Class
• Comcast Interactive Media
• Comcast Spotlight

Complaints on the Issue of Network Neutrality

In 2007, Vuze, a video distribution company using BitTorrent peer to peer technology filed a complaint with FCC against Comcast for allegedly violating the network neutrality principles by throttling network traffic. A similar complaint was filed by advocacy groups and legal scholars from Yale, Harvard and Stanford universities. According to the complainants, Comcast reduced the ability of subscribers to access legal contents by blocking BitTorrent, Gnutella and Lotus Notes. They requested FCC to issue to issue a temporary injunction to stop Comcast from degrading applications. In addition the complainants said, Upon deciding the merits, the Commission should issue a permanent injunction ending Comcast's discrimination." Furthermore, Free Press and Public Knowledge also filed a complaint against Comcast and requested FCC to issue a $195,000 fine per subscriber. The Associated Press conducted a investigation regarding the issue and found that the complaints were true. Subscribers using BitTorrent were blocked from file sharing. In 2008, FCC investigated Comcast and conducted a hearing regarding network neutrality. Comcast denied the allegations that it is no blocking or downgrading peer to peer file sharing. FCC ruled that Comcast network management practices violated federal policy on network neutrality. The Commission believed that it has ancillary authority to regulate Comcast under the Communications Act of 1934. Comcast sued the FCC to the Court of Appeals District of Columbia questioning the Commission's authority in regulating the company's networks. In 2010, the court ruled in favor of Comcast. the court cited, the Commission failed to tie its assertion of ancillary authority over Comcast’s Internet service to any “statutorily mandated responsibility.”

ICANN Involvement

Jason Livingood, Comcast Executive of Internet Systems Engineering is a member of ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee. In 2010, Comcast participated in two ICANN DNSSEC workshops during the ICANN 38 meeting in Brussels.