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Recent Accounting Pronouncements
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]  
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Note 3: Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Revenue Recognition
In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) updated the accounting guidance related to revenue recognition. The updated accounting guidance provides a single, contract-based revenue recognition model to help improve financial reporting by providing clearer guidance on when an entity should recognize revenue and by reducing the number of standards to which an entity has to refer. The updated guidance also requires additional disclosures regarding the nature, timing and uncertainty of our revenue transactions. We will adopt the updated accounting guidance in the first quarter of 2018 using the full retrospective method, which requires the adjustment of all prior periods presented to reflect the impacts of the updated guidance.
The adoption of the new standard will not have a material impact to our consolidated financial position or results of operations. A summary of the changes that will be implemented in 2018 in connection with the new standard are presented below.
Changes to Presentation of Revenue and Related Costs with No Impact to the Timing of Recognition
•
Revenue from our residential video services in our Cable Communications segment will decrease with corresponding increases to high-speed Internet and voice revenue due to a change in the allocation of revenue among our cable services included in a bundle that our residential customers purchase at a discount.
•
Revenue from franchise and other regulatory fees, which was previously presented in other revenue, will be presented with the corresponding cable services in our Cable Communications segment. This will result in increases to video, voice and business services revenue.
•
Customer late fees in our Cable Communications segment will now be presented in other and in business services revenue. These fees were previously presented as a reduction to other operating and administrative expenses.
•
Certain costs, including costs related to the fulfillment of contracts with customers, in our Cable Communications segment will be presented as other assets and the related costs will be recognized over time in operating costs and expenses, which are comprised of total costs and expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization expense and other operating gains. These amounts were previously presented as intangible assets, and the expenses were previously presented in amortization expense. The payments related to these assets will be presented in net cash provided by operating activities rather than in cash paid for intangible assets in our consolidated statement of cash flows.
The table below presents the expected effects upon adoption these changes in presentation would have had on our Cable Communications segment revenue, operating costs and expenses and depreciation and amortization expense in 2017 and 2016.
Year ended December 31 (in millions)
2017
2016
 
As Reported

Effects of
Adoption(a)

Upon
Adoption(a)

As Reported

Effects of
Adoption(a)

Upon
Adoption(a)

Cable Communications segment
 
 
 
 
 
 
Revenue
$
52,519

$
482

$
53,001

$
50,048

$
471

$
50,519

Operating costs and expenses
$
31,349

$
619

$
31,968

$
29,939

$
602

$
30,541

Depreciation and amortization expense
$
8,143

$
(137
)
$
8,006

$
7,670

$
(131
)
$
7,539

(a) Certain other immaterial changes in presentation and the impacts due to changes in timing of revenue recognition and related costs described below were excluded from the table. The final effects of the adoption will differ from the amounts presented above.
Changes to the Timing of Recognition of Revenue and Related Costs
•
Installation revenue and commission expenses in our Cable Communications segment will be recognized as revenue and costs, respectively, over a period of time. These amounts were previously recognized immediately.
•
Content licensing revenue associated with renewals or extensions of existing program licensing agreements in our Cable Networks, Broadcast Television and Filmed Entertainment segments will be recognized as revenue when the licensed content becomes available under the renewal or extension. These renewals or extensions were previously recognized as revenue when the agreement was executed.
Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities
In January 2016, the FASB updated the accounting guidance related to the recognition and measurement of financial assets and financial liabilities. The updated accounting guidance, among other things, requires that all nonconsolidated equity investments, except those accounted for under the equity method, be measured at fair value and that the changes in fair value be recognized in net income. The updated guidance is effective for us as of January 1, 2018. With certain exceptions, the updated accounting guidance requires a cumulative effect adjustment to beginning retained earnings in the year the guidance is adopted. If we had adopted the provisions of the updated guidance as of January 1, 2017 for our equity investments classified as available-for-sale securities, primarily our investment in Snap Inc. (see Note 7), net income attributable to Comcast Corporation would have decreased by $44 million in 2017. If we had adopted the provisions of the updated guidance as of January 1, 2017 for our equity investments classified as cost method investments, the impact on our net income attributable to Comcast Corporation would not have been material.
Leases
In February 2016, the FASB updated the accounting guidance related to leases. The updated accounting guidance requires lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability on the balance sheet for all leases with the exception of short-term leases. The asset and liability are initially measured based on the present value of committed lease payments. For a lessee, the recognition, measurement and presentation of expenses and cash flows arising from a lease do not significantly change from previous guidance. For a lessor, the accounting applied is also largely unchanged from previous guidance. The updated guidance is effective for us as of January 1, 2019 and early adoption is permitted. The updated accounting guidance must be adopted using a modified retrospective approach for leases that exist or are entered into after the beginning of the earliest comparative period in the financial statements. We are currently in the process of determining the impact that the updated accounting guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements. See Note 16 for a summary of our undiscounted minimum rental commitments under operating leases as of December 31, 2017.
Share-Based Compensation
In March 2016, the FASB updated the accounting guidance that affects several aspects of the accounting for share-based compensation. The most significant change for us relates to the presentation of the income and withholding tax consequences of share-based compensation in our consolidated financial statements. Among the changes, the updated guidance requires that the excess income tax benefits or deficiencies that arise when the tax consequences of share-based compensation differ from amounts previously recognized in the statement of income be recognized as income tax benefit or expense in the statement of income rather than as additional paid-in capital in the balance sheet. The guidance also states that excess income tax benefits should not be presented separately from other income taxes in the statement of cash flows and, thus, should be classified as an operating activity rather than a financing activity as they were under the prior guidance. In addition, the updated guidance requires that, when an employer withholds shares upon exercise of options or the vesting of restricted stock for the purpose of meeting withholding tax requirements, the cash paid for withholding taxes be classified as a financing activity. We include these amounts in the caption “repurchases of common stock under repurchase program and employee plans” in our consolidated statement of cash flows. We previously recorded these amounts as operating activities.
We adopted the updated guidance as of January 1, 2017 and as required, we prospectively adopted the provisions that relate to the recognition of the excess income tax benefits or deficiencies in our consolidated statement of income. The excess tax benefits resulted in an increase to income tax benefit in 2017 of $297 million and our diluted earnings per common share attributable to Comcast Corporation shareholders in 2017 increased by $0.04. As required by the updated guidance, the prior year periods in our consolidated statement of income were not adjusted as a result of these provisions.
In addition, we retrospectively adopted the provisions of this guidance related to changes to the statement of cash flows for all periods presented. This resulted in increases to net cash provided by operating activities and decreases to net cash provided by (used in) financing activities of $732 million, $585 million and $707 million in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
NBCUniversal Media LLC [Member]  
New Accounting Pronouncements or Change in Accounting Principle [Line Items]  
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Note 3: Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Revenue Recognition
In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) updated the accounting guidance related to revenue recognition. The updated accounting guidance provides a single, contract-based revenue recognition model to help improve financial reporting by providing clearer guidance on when an entity should recognize revenue and by reducing the number of standards to which an entity has to refer. The updated guidance also requires additional disclosures regarding the nature, timing and uncertainty of our revenue transactions. We will adopt the updated accounting guidance in the first quarter of 2018 using the full retrospective method, which requires the adjustment of all prior periods presented to reflect the impacts of the updated guidance.
The adoption of the new standard will not have a material impact to our consolidated financial position or results of operations. However, we do expect that the new standard will impact the timing of the recognition of content licensing revenue associated with renewals or extensions of existing program licensing agreements in our Cable Networks, Broadcast Television and Filmed Entertainment segments, which will be recognized as revenue when the licensed content becomes available under the renewal or extension. These renewals or extensions were previously recognized as revenue when the agreement was executed.
Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities
In January 2016, the FASB updated the accounting guidance related to the recognition and measurement of financial assets and financial liabilities. The updated accounting guidance, among other things, requires that all nonconsolidated equity investments, except those accounted for under the equity method, be measured at fair value and that the changes in fair value be recognized in net income. The updated guidance is effective for us as of January 1, 2018. With certain exceptions, the updated accounting guidance requires a cumulative effect adjustment to beginning retained earnings in the year the guidance is adopted. If we had adopted the provisions of the updated guidance as of January 1, 2017 for our equity investments classified as available-for-sale securities, primarily our investment in Snap Inc. (see Note 7), net income attributable to NBCUniversal would have decreased by $233 million in 2017. If we had adopted the provisions of the updated guidance as of January 1, 2017 for our cost method investments, the impact on our net income attributable to NBCUniversal would not have been material.
Leases
In February 2016, the FASB updated the accounting guidance related to leases. The updated accounting guidance requires lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability on the balance sheet for all leases with the exception of short-term leases. The asset and liability are initially measured based on the present value of committed lease payments. For a lessee, the recognition, measurement and presentation of expenses and cash flows arising from a lease do not significantly change from previous guidance. For a lessor, the accounting applied is also largely unchanged from previous guidance. The updated guidance is effective for us as of January 1, 2019 and early adoption is permitted. The updated accounting guidance must be adopted using a modified retrospective approach for leases that exist or are entered into after the beginning of the earliest comparative period in the financial statements. We are currently in the process of determining the impact that the updated accounting guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements. See Note 14 for a summary of our undiscounted minimum rental commitments under operating leases as of December 31, 2017.