Working at Comcast: We heard questions and testimony related to Comcast and NBCU as employers, and clearly in this economy jobs are on all of our minds. As a company, Comcast has a track record of creating thousands of American jobs. We have grown from 68,000 employees in 2003 to over 100,000 today. As I said in my earlier post, we offer all full-time employees health care benefits and company-matched 401k accounts. We regularly ask third parties to conduct anonymous employee satisfaction surveys, and are proud to say we have received consistently high marks. In short, Comcast is an employer of choice all around the country and a great place to work. This has led to many third party recognitions of Comcast as a high quality employer, including the recent ranking of Comcast by the Boston Globe as the #1 large employer in the region.

There were a number of questions from some members about Comcast’s relationship to our employees and unions, partially stimulated by testimony from the Communications Workers of America, a single union. We believe we were able to put those concerns to rest, noting that: (1) Comcast is a pro-employee company. (2) the CWA’s greatest objection to Comcast is that thousands of our employees voted to decertify the union after we acquired AT&T’s cable properties in 2002. But it’s a historical fact that the cable industry has not seen high levels of labor organization, and there’s no evidence that these decertification elections were anything other than our employees voluntarily deciding that the union they might have wanted to represent them at AT&T was not necessary with Comcast as an employer. (3) Comcast is not anti-union. In fact, in our content properties, we are actually above-average when it comes to unionization: over 13% of our cable programming employees are organized, compared to the 7.1% national average. (4) Together with Liberty Property Trust, we just built an $850 million new headquarters office building in downtown Philadelphia – and we did that with a 100% union workforce. (5) Finally, we see our joint venture with NBCU as an investment in the creative talent of our content employees represented by the various guilds and unions representing directors, actors, technical professionals, and others. We have committed to recognizing the existing collective bargaining agreements between these entertainment unions and NBCU – and to continuing the strong labor-management relations that exist today between NBCU and its unions.

Independent Programming: While the Independent Film and Television Association (the “IFTA”) suggested that our joint venture would reduce opportunities for independent programmers, we explained that this is incorrect. In fact, independent programming – and programming from a wide diversity of sources — will be an important element of our continued growth in both content and distribution. Among the numerous independent programming networks (and outlets for independent programming) with whom we currently work are HDNet, Gospel Music Channel, IFC, Sundance, Magnolia, Ovation TV, Hallmark Movie Channel, Havoc, Here Networks, Shalom TV, RHI, and Concert TV. We currently distribute their movies, documentaries, music videos, and shows on TV, OnDemand, and/or online. Even the IFTA witness acknowledged that (due to reduced opportunities at the broadcast networks) independent programmers have pursued their opportunities with cable companies, including Comcast. We showed our desire to help create new opportunities for independently owned and operated programming networks when we committed to add two new independent programming channels per year beginning in 2011. We are also helping to create new opportunities for distributing content online through Fancast Xfinity TV. The joint venture gives us greater freedom to innovate and create new and exciting platforms and opportunities. Independent programmers will benefit from this innovation.

Diversity: A few members of the Committee raised questions about diversity at Comcast (and NBCU). Brian reiterated the company’s commitment to promoting diversity in everything the company does. To me, as Comcast’s Chief Diversity Officer, this means, among other things, diversity in our workforce, in our programming lineup, in our supplier base, and in our community investments (philanthropy) – and having results we can be proud of. Here are just a few examples of those results:

• Almost 60 percent of Comcast’s employees are women or people of color.
• Many of our cable service regions are led by women or people of color, including our West Division and our Philadelphia, Miami, Houston, Chicago, Portland, and Salt Lake City Regions.
• Women head up three of Comcast’s seven business lines—Comcast Interactive Media, Comcast Digital Voice, and Comcast High Speed Internet.
• We have senior women leading Investor Relations, Corporate Communications, Comcast University, Corporate Administration, Community Investment, and our programming networks.
• We continue to seek out ways to proactively identify minority candidates for employment at Comcast. We partner nationally with the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA), the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA) and Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) on our recruiting efforts.
• Our diversity efforts have received numerous recognitions and awards. A recent sampling: Latina Style magazine named us one of the “50 Best Companies for Latinas,” Hispanic Business included us among its “Diversity Elite 60: Top Companies for Hispanics,” and the readers of US Black Engineer, Hispanic Engineer and Women of Color magazines ranked us among their “Most Admired Employers for Minority Professionals.”
• Our work on supplier diversity has earned the attention of Diversitybusiness.com, which ranked us among its “Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities.”
• Minority/women/disabled-owned businesses (MWDB) were key to the construction of the Comcast Center, our new corporate headquarters in Philadelphia. Nearly $100 million in contracts were awarded to 73 MWDBs, comprising 45% of the vendors Minority/women/disabled-owned businesses (MWDB) were key to the construction of the Comcast Center, our new corporate headquarters in Philadelphia. Nearly $100 million in construction related contracts were awarded to 73 MWDBs, comprising 45% of the vendors on the project. On a combined basis, more than 30 percent of the qualified construction contracts went to MWDBS, and on the employment side 21 percent of all hours worked on the project were performed by women and minorities.
• We distribute more than 140 multicultural networks in a variety of formats, featuring programming from around the world, including over 70 Hispanic networks.

Notwithstanding all these successes, of which we are justifiably proud, Brian underscored our commitment to do even better.

We also welcomed the chance to explain again our exciting vision of the future of video service. We are glad to continue providing Members of Congress, other public officials, and the readers of Comcast Voices more details about the public interest benefits of this joint venture.

The hearing will be chaired by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) with ranking member Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX). Rep. Conyers had this comment when Comcast filed our FCC Public Interest Statement last December: “It is clear to me that any merger of this magnitude should be reviewed carefully. Nonetheless, Comcast’s commitment to diverse programming and maintaining the journalistic independence of NBCU is encouraging. I am also glad to see that Comcast has committed to maintaining local affiliates, local news coverage and other public interest programming.”

With some of the same witnesses as the hearings earlier this month, some of the testimony will be familiar, but new issues are likely to be brought up as well based on the Committee’s interests and probable witness testimony.

Once again, Brian and Jeff will make the case why this joint venture will benefit American consumers by helping to accelerate the transition to a future of “anytime, anywhere” TV content. They’ll also discuss the transaction’s pro-competitive impact and the competitiveness of the markets in which we operate. In the first two hearings, there was a lot of discussion of competition related issues and online video. As Brian Roberts has said for several years, video over the Internet is our friend not our foe, and we want to bring more video to the Internet, not less. An interesting chart from the Public Interest Statement we filed with the FCC last month shows that Comcast and NBCU are pretty small players in the online video space. Google is the clear leader with nearly 55% of online viewing. Hulu is the second most viewed with 4%, (It’s important to remember that NBCU has only a minority interest in Hulu, whose other owners include Disney-ABC and News Corp-Fox).

Based on the background of the other witnesses, we expect issues related to labor and independent programming to be discussed.

In terms of independent programming and the programming market in general – we don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be an independent producer of video content. Opportunities to produce shows and reach an audience have exploded. Thirty years ago, “video” pretty much meant three networks (owned by three companies) that accounted for virtually all viewing. Then came the cable industry and new channels - first 20, then 40, then 100, and now over 600. And at the same time, satellite and cable companies added hundreds of new distribution channels.

Today, the vast majority of channels Comcast carries are not affiliated with us, and this will continue to be the case even after we join with NBCU – in fact, on a typical Comcast cable system 6 out of 7 channels won’t be affiliated with Comcast or NBCU. And vertical integration of cable channels has been substantially decreasing over time. As this chart shows, in 1992, about 57% of channels were vertically integrated while in 2006 only about 14% were. One of the reasons is the enormous increase in the number of channels available to consumers.

Comcast now offers hundreds of linear channels from companies large and small. They are owned by big companies like Disney, Time Warner, Viacom, and Fox; and by independents like Hallmark, Bloomberg TV, Ovation, The Outdoor Network and ReelzChannel. There are also whole networks devoted to independent films, such as the Sundance Channel and the Independent Film Channel.

And linear channels don’t tell the whole story. In just the last decade, Video on Demand (VOD) has emerged as a distribution vehicle, followed by online video. Our customers have watched VOD over 14 billion times. We’ve got about 17,000 titles now available at any given time. VOD makes millions of potential viewers available for independent programmers as diverse as Havoc which shows specialty surfing, skating, and snowboarding content; Concert TV, Hip Hop on Demand, and KidzBop.

The surge in American homes with fast broadband connections has opened up online video as another outlet. Just in the past few months, Comcast launched the beta version of our Fancast Xfinity online service – this is allowing us to put even more programming online than we have on VOD. Already we’ve got 19,000 titles online, and independent programmers are being distributed in this new way. Ovation TV and Hallmark Channel, which also have linear outlets, are joined online by independent film distributors like Cinetic and Snagfilms. But this service also competes with Netflix, AppleTV, Blockbuster, and scores of other online video services.

All of this means unprecedented opportunities and outlets for all programmers, including independents.

Turning to labor and workforce issues, jobs were on the minds of many Senators and Representatives in the earlier hearings. In many horizontal mergers, because of overlapping workforces there can be significant layoffs after the close of such deals. But this is primarily a vertical transaction with little overlap between the two companies. The goal of bringing the two companies together is not to cut costs by eliminating jobs, but to grow the company by investing, innovating and competing.

Comcast is a pro-employee company and has been for over 45 years. We are very proud of our employees and value their contributions to the success of the Company. We’ve grown to over 100,000 employees and offer all full-time employees healthcare benefits and 401k accounts with company matching. Our competitive pay and benefits package is just one reason why we are an employer of choice across the country. While union-represented employees are a small percentage of our total workforce, we respect the right of employees to choose whether to be represented by a union and have pledged to honor the existing collective bargaining agreements between NBCU and its unions and to preserve and continue these productive relationships. We value good union workers. In fact, our new headquarters building in Philadelphia - the largest private development project in the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania - was built with 100% union labor.

As at the earlier hearings, we expect a lot of questions, and we’re ready to provide good answers.

In the morning Brian and Jeff will testify before the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology & the Internet chaired by Rep. Rick Boucher, with Ranking Member Cliff Stearns and in the afternoon, they’ll appear before the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights chaired by Sen. Herb Kohl, with Ranking Senator Orrin Hatch. The hearings will be streamed live on the committee’s websites, and C-SPAN 3 will cover the morning hearing live and will archive the footage as well.

Brian and Jeff will be joined at the hearings by witnesses from Consumer Federation of America, the Media Access Project, the NBC affiliates board, WOW (a competing cable company in the Midwest), and the Progress and Freedom Foundation.

We plan to tell the committees why this joint venture makes sense for American consumers and especially for Comcast and NBC Universal customers. The NBC broadcast network reaches almost every American home with a TV - it’s an American icon. For much of the history of TV, NBC was one of only three networks available to viewers. It’s amazing how much broadcasting and cable television have changed since then. From just three broadcast networks, we’ve moved to a world of hundreds of cable networks, not to mention the thousands and thousands of movies and TV choices available On Demand for digital cable customers. We are excited about this joint venture because it will help accelerate the transition to the future of “anytime, anywhere” TV content.

What we hear from our customers every day is they want more - more video programming on demand on their TVs, more online, more on their mobile devices. They want it all and they want it now. We want to bring it to them.

We’ve got a great track record of delivering on innovations that consumers want - like video on demand (VOD), which our customers have now watched 14 billion times over the past six years (that’s much more than the number of iTunes downloads in the U.S. over the same period of time). When we first started VOD, many doubted consumers would embrace it, and we had to work very hard to convince content providers to give us access to their shows. It wasn’t until we made an investment in MGM that we were able to obtain more movies to ramp up our VOD offerings, and that got consumers really interested. We think the same thing will happen with this joint venture - with all the great content of NBC Universal, we can put more On Demand on TV and online (while still respectful of existing distribution windows and business models) and the more we bring to Comcast customers, the more our competitors will bring to their customers as well.

We’ve been visiting with many Members of Congress in the weeks leading up to the hearings, and one thing many Members have asked about is NBC News. To us, no part of NBC Universal is more important. The Today Show and Nightly News with Huntley and Brinkley were part of the daily lives of so many of us when we were growing up. Many of the people we’ve heard from on the Hill also believe that TV programs like Meet the Press have become American institutions and are critical to our democratic process. Because of our strong belief in the importance of broadcast news, on the day we announced this transaction, we pledged to enhance local news and other forms of local programming and to preserve the journalistic independence of NBC News. Expanding on those commitments in our Public Interest Statement last week, we promised to increase local news production by a total of 1,000 hours at the NBC owned and operated stations. We want to preserve the quality, and improve the quantity, of news and public affairs programming around the country - and we’re prepared to invest to do that.

In the current economic environment, broadcasting, like many businesses, is challenged. Before we announced this deal, there was a lot of speculation that we’d turn NBC and Telemundo into cable-only networks. We’ve pledged not to do that (specifically stating our goal to preserve free, over-the-air broadcast television). We want to preserve the local broadcast affiliate model and work with the affiliates of NBC and Telemundo to secure a viable future for the network and affiliates alike.

Another issue we will discuss at the hearings is competition. A few people have said that this transaction will harm competition. We don’t think that’s true - every market we operate in is fiercely competitive, including the distribution, content, and Internet markets. While Comcast may be the largest video provider, the next two largest providers are DirecTV and EchoStar - each of which has a nationwide footprint (we don’t) and both of which compete against us for nearly every customer we have. And Verizon and AT&T (both much larger than Comcast) are now aggressively overbuilding our cable systems all around the country. Even if competition itself wasn’t enough to protect consumers, there are specific FCC rules that require programming owned by a cable company to be shared with competitors, as well as rules that forbid any cable company from favoring programming it owns over other channels. These rules work, and we will of course abide by them (as we do today).

We’re also expecting that there will be discussion of the impact of this transaction on the nascent video over the Internet market. That market is also highly competitive - with many players and very low barriers to entry - and access to content is plentiful. While NBC Universal (through its 32 percent, minority, non-controlling interest in Hulu) and Comcast (through its entertainment and video site Fancast) both participate in this market, our combined share of the market is miniscule (today, that market is dominated by Google/YouTube and populated by dozens and dozens of other sites). We don’t view Hulu and Fancast as competitive - with each other or with our cable service - rather, they are both complementary services. And in any event, we play such a small role in this market (either as a content provider or as an Internet video competitor) that it just isn’t credible to conclude that we have any capacity to get in the way of the development of video over the Internet.

These are just some of the issues we expect Brian and Jeff will address when they testify, and we expect lawmakers will ask a lot of questions. We look forward to this chance to discuss the pro-consumer, pro-competitive, and strong public interest benefits of our proposed joint venture.

Broadband for America was created to support and pursue the two most important broadband goals of the Administration, the Congress, and the Federal Communications Commission: getting broadband everywhere in America, and getting everyone connected to broadband.

As David Cohen has noted on this blog, there is a broadband connection available to 92 percent of American homes today, meaning 8 percent of homes do not have a broadband network going by the front door. But in all the places where broadband does go by the front door, we still find that 37 percent of American homes have not chosen to get connected.

If we believe that broadband is important to the future of this nation - to create jobs, power innovation, improve healthcare, strengthen our educational system, reduce energy consumption - then we need to make a concerted effort as a nation to close the "broadband adoption gap."

Comcast has several programs to do just that, including our partnership with One Economy. And we have lots of ideas, many of which we have shared with the FCC as they develop their National Broadband Plan to be sent to Congress next February.

On Tuesday, September 29, the Federal Communications Commission will receive a status report on the National Broadband Plan. We'll be watching to see what progress the FCC's Task Force has made and what they still want to know. We and the members of Broadband for America will make sure they get the facts they need.

But Broadband for America is also here to share the facts with you. Learn how broadband network providers in the U.S. -- cable companies, phone companies, wireless and satellite companies -- are inventing and investing to bring you a faster, safer Internet. Read about the ways broadband can help us achieve critical economic and social goals, what stands in the way, and what public policy changes are needed. And join the dialogue -- give America your best ideas on how to make America the most connected nation on earth.