Note 13: Financial Data by Business Segment

We present our operations in five reportable business segments:

• Cable Communications: Consists of the operations of Comcast Cable, which is the nation's largest provider of video, high-speed Internet and voice services (“cable services”) to residential customers under the XFINITY brand, and we also provide these services to businesses and sell advertising.

• Cable Networks: Consists primarily of our national cable networks, our regional sports and news networks, our international cable networks, our cable television production operations, and our related digital media properties.

• Broadcast Television: Consists primarily of the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, our NBC and Telemundo owned local broadcast television stations, our broadcast television production operations, and our related digital media properties.

• Filmed Entertainment: Consists primarily of the operations of Universal Pictures, which produces, acquires, markets and distributes filmed entertainment worldwide.

• Theme Parks: Consists primarily of our Universal theme parks in Orlando and Hollywood.

In evaluating the profitability of our operating segments, the components of net income (loss) below operating income (loss) before depreciation and amortization are not separately evaluated by our management. Our financial data by business segment is presented in the tables below.

(a) For the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, Cable Communications segment revenue was derived from the following sources:

Subscription revenue received from customers who purchase bundled services at a discounted rate is allocated proportionally to each service based on the individual service's price on a stand-alone basis. Beginning in 2013, revenue from certain business customers, such as hotels, restaurants and bars, is now presented in business services revenue rather than in the video revenue line item. Reclassifications have been made for the prior year to conform to this new presentation.

For the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, 2.9% and 2.8%, respectively, of Cable Communications revenue was derived from franchise and other regulatory fees.

• NBCUniversal Headquarters and Other activities included costs associated with overhead, personnel costs and headquarter initiatives.

   

• Included in Eliminations are transactions that our segments enter into with one another. The most common types of transactions are the following:

   

  • our Cable Networks and Broadcast Television segments generate revenue by selling programming to our Cable Communications segment, which represents a substantial majority of the revenue elimination amount

  • our Cable Communications segment generates revenue by selling advertising and by selling the use of satellite feeds to our Cable Networks segment

  • our Filmed Entertainment and Broadcast Television segments generate revenue by licensing content to our Cable Networks segment

  • our Cable Communications segment receives incentives offered by our Cable Networks segment in connection with its distribution of the Cable Networks' content that are recorded as a reduction to programming expenses

   

• No single customer accounted for a significant amount of revenue in any period.

   

• We use operating income (loss) before depreciation and amortization, excluding impairment charges related to fixed and intangible assets and gains or losses from the sale of assets, if any, as the measure of profit or loss for our operating segments. This measure eliminates the significant level of noncash depreciation and amortization expense that results from the capital-intensive nature of certain of our businesses and from intangible assets recognized in business combinations. Additionally, it is unaffected by our capital structure or investment activities. We use this measure to evaluate our consolidated operating performance and the operating performance of our operating segments and to allocate resources and capital to our operating segments. It is also a significant performance measure in our annual incentive compensation programs. We believe that this measure is useful to investors because it is one of the bases for comparing our operating performance with that of other companies in our industries, although our measure may not be directly comparable to similar measures used by other companies. This measure should not be considered a substitute for operating income (loss), net income (loss) attributable to Comcast Corporation, net cash provided by operating activities, or other measures of performance or liquidity we have reported in accordance with GAAP.