BEHIND THE NAME
Comcast Corp. was formed in 1963 as American Cable Systems and was renamed in 1969. Comcast had 15.7 million broadband subscribers as of the third quarter 2009.

The company holds a 22 percent stake in Clearwire, which it helped create in 2008 with Sprint Corp., Clearwire Corp., Intel Corp., Google Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks. The lobbying total for Clearwire and the former Clearwire Corp. is $842,500.

In 2006, the Federal Communications Commission agreed to the breakup and sale of Adelphia Communication Corp. to the nation's two largest cable companies, Comcast and Time Warner Inc. Adelphia’s lobbying total was $1.8 million.

Comcast’s total lobbying figure does not include these companies.

Lobbying expenditures between 1999 and 2009 for Comcast total at least $53.3 million.

In December, Comcast and NBC Universal announced plans for a $30 billion merger. The deal is pending government approval.

Sources: Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (broadband subscribers); lobbying disclosure forms with the Senate Office of Public Records (lobbying data).

Graphic research by Mia Steinle, Investigative Reporting Workshop