COMCAST

Company profile
Comcast Corporation (formerly registered as Comcast Holdings) is an
American telecommunications conglomerate headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It
is the second-largest broadcasting and cable television company in the world by revenue and
the largest pay-TV company, the largest cable TV company and largest home Internet service
provider in the United States, and the nation's third-largest home telephone service provider.
Comcast services U.S. residential and commercial customers in 40 states and in the District
of Columbia. As the owner of the international media company NBCUniversal since
2011, Comcast is a producer of feature films and television programs intended for theatrical
exhibition and over-the-air and cable television broadcast, respectively.

Comcast owns and operates the Xfinity residential cable communications subsidiary,
Comcast Business, a commercial services provider, Xfinity Mobile, an MVNO of Verizon,
over-the-air national broadcast network channels (NBC, Telemundo, TeleXitos and Cozi
TV), multiple cable-only channels (including MSNBC, CNBC, USA
Network, Syfy, NBCSN, and E!, among others), the film studio Universal Pictures,
and Universal Parks & Resorts. It also has significant holdings in digital distribution, such
as thePlatform, which it acquired in 2006. In February 2014, the company agreed to merge
with Time Warner Cable in an equity swap deal worth $45.2 billion. Under the terms of the
agreement, Comcast was to acquire 100% of Time Warner Cable. However, on April 24,
2015, Comcast terminated the agreement. Comcast and Charter Communications entered into
an agreement to conduct exclusive discussions with Sprint Corporation in late June 2017.
Since October 2018, it is also the parent company of mass media pan-European
company Sky, making it the biggest and leading media company with more than 53 million
subscribers over five countries across Europe.

Comcast has been criticized for multiple reasons; its customer satisfaction often ranks among
the lowest in the cable industry. In addition, Comcast has violated net neutrality practices in
the past, and, despite Comcast's commitment to a narrow definition of net neutrality, critics
advocate a definition which precludes any distinction between Comcast's private
network services and the rest of the Internet. Critics also point out a lack of competition in the
vast majority of Comcast's service area; there is limited competition among cable
providers. Furthermore, given Comcast's negotiating power as a large ISP, some suspect that
Comcast could leverage paid peering agreements to unfairly influence end-user connection
speeds. Its ownership of both content production (in NBCUniversal) and content distribution
(as an ISP) has raised antitrust concerns. These issues, in addition to others, led to Comcast
being dubbed "The Worst Company in America" by The Consumerist in 2010 and 2014.

Headquarters: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Area served: Worldwide

Products

 Broadband
 Broadcasting
 Cable television
 Digital telephone
 Direct-broadcast satellite
 HDTV
 Home security systems
 Internet
 Pay television
 Film production
 Sport management
 Theme parks
 TV production
 Mobile
 Venture capital
 VoIP phone
Regulatory and Legal environment of Comcast

The US Senate had voted in favor of repealing regulations regarding consumer privacy.
According to the report, in October last year, the FCC (Federal Communications
Commission) under President Obama had passed a regulation that had made it mandatory for
ISPs (Internet service providers) like Comcast (CMCSA) to obtain consent from the
consumer before using tools like browsing history and geolocation to target a consumer for
advertising.

However, the repeal of this regulation would mean that ISPs like Comcast would be allowed
to do targeted advertising using consumer data. Earlier this year, the Trump administration
appointed Ajit Pai as FCC (Federal Communications Commission) chair, which raised some
concerns that Pai would promote deregulation.

the FCC also stopped its investigation of telecommunication companies’ zero-rating policies.
Under these policies, telecommunication companies like AT&T (T) and T-Mobile (TMUS)
allow subscribers to stream videos from streaming services like Netflix (NFLX) without
using up data from their data plans.

Comcast was asked at the Deutsche Bank Media, Internet and Telecom Conference earlier
this month about how the changed regulatory environment could impact its business. The
company stated that considering Comcast was a large taxpayer in the United States (SPY),
corporate tax reforms would be beneficial for the company.

Net neutrality

Comcast made it clear that while it did support net neutrality, it didn’t favor the classification
of net neutrality under Title II of the Communications Act. The classification of net neutrality
under Title II has meant that broadband was expected to be regulated like any other utility
service.

A rollback in net neutrality rules under Trump could bode well for Comcast. It could mean
that Comcast wouldn’t have to worry about third-party claims from streaming services for
damages due to slowing down Internet traffic.
 As the above chart indicates, Comcast’s high-speed Internet and video businesses together
made up nearly 71% of Comcast Cable’s total revenues of $12.8 billion in fiscal 4Q16.

Culture in Comcast

At Comcast NBCUniversal, we strive to make every employee feel valued and respected for
who they are and the unique contributions they make. We believe that a diverse and inclusive
company is a more innovative and successful company, which is why we aim to infuse diversity
and inclusion (D&I) into all aspects of our culture and our business. For us, D&I is not a
program — it is a central element of our credo and our DNA. Our approach to D&I is focused
on five key pillars: Governance, Workforce, Supplier Diversity, Programming, and Community
Impact.

Competitive strategy

Threats of New Entrants

New entrants in Entertainment - Diversified brings innovation, new ways of doing things and
put pressure on Comcast Corporation through lower pricing strategy, reducing costs, and
providing new value propositions to the customers. Comcast Corporation has to manage all
these challenges and build effective barriers to safeguard its competitive edge.

How Comcast Corporation can tackle the Threats of New Entrants

 By innovating new products and services. New products not only brings new customers to the
fold but also give old customer a reason to buy Comcast Corporation ‘s products.
 By building economies of scale so that it can lower the fixed cost per unit.
 Building capacities and spending money on research and development. New entrants are less
likely to enter a dynamic industry where the established players such as Comcast Corporation
keep defining the standards regularly. It significantly reduces the window of extraordinary
profits for the new firms thus discourage new players in the industry.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

All most all the companies in the Entertainment - Diversified industry buy their raw material
from numerous suppliers. Suppliers in dominant position can decrease the margins Comcast
 Corporation can earn in the market. Powerful suppliers in Services sector use their
negotiating power to extract higher prices from the firms in Entertainment - Diversified field.
The overall impact of higher supplier bargaining power is that it lowers the overall
profitability of Entertainment - Diversified.

How Comcast Corporation can tackle Bargaining Power of the Suppliers

 By building efficient supply chain with multiple suppliers.

 By experimenting with product designs using different materials so that if the prices go up of
one raw material then company can shift to another.
 Developing dedicated suppliers whose business depends upon the firm. One of the lessons
Comcast Corporation can learn from Wal-Mart and Nike is how these companies developed
third party manufacturers whose business solely depends on them thus creating a scenario
where these third party manufacturers have significantly less bargaining power compare to
Wal-Mart and Nike.

Bargaining Power of Buyers

Buyers are often a demanding lot. They want to buy the best offerings available by paying the
minimum price as possible. This put pressure on Comcast Corporation profitability in the
long run. The smaller and more powerful the customer base is of Comcast Corporation the
higher the bargaining power of the customers and higher their ability to seek increasing
discounts and offers.

How Comcast Corporation can tackle the Bargaining Power of Buyers

 By building a large base of customers. This will be helpful in two ways. It will reduce the
bargaining power of the buyers plus it will provide an opportunity to the firm to streamline its
sales and production process.
 By rapidly innovating new products. Customers often seek discounts and offerings on
established products so if Comcast Corporation keep on coming up with new products then it
can limit the bargaining power of buyers.
 New products will also reduce the defection of existing customers of Comcast Corporation to
its competitors.
 Threats of Substitute Products or Services

When a new product or service meets a similar customer needs in different ways, industry
profitability suffers. For example services like Dropbox and Google Drive are substitute to
storage hardware drives. The threat of a substitute product or service is high if it offers a
value proposition that is uniquely different from present offerings of the industry.

How Comcast Corporation can tackle the Treat of Substitute Products / Services

 By being service oriented rather than just product oriented.

 By understanding the core need of the customer rather than what the customer is buying.
 By increasing the switching cost for the customers.

Rivalry among the Existing Competitors

If the rivalry among the existing players in an industry is intense then it will drive down
prices and decrease the overall profitability of the industry. Comcast Corporation operates in
a very competitive Entertainment - Diversified industry. This competition does take toll on
the overall long term profitability of the organization.

How Comcast Corporation can tackle Intense Rivalry among the Existing Competitors
in Entertainment - Diversified industry
 By building a sustainable differentiation
 By building scale so that it can compete better
 Collaborating with competitors to increase the market size rather than just competing
for small market.