Income Taxes and Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Income Taxes and Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes

Schedule of components of the (provision for) benefit from income taxes

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2018		2017		2016
	(In thousands)
Current (benefit) provision:
Federal	$	44,451	$	(71,141)	$	317,010
State		29,918		38,058		31,160
Foreign		4,616		3,736		10,840
Total current (benefit) provision		78,985		(29,347)		359,010
Deferred (benefit) provision:
Federal		383,096		(547,575)		469,927
State		64,000		69,076		35,418
Foreign		—		—		—
Increase (decrease) in valuation allowance		7,603		(7,474)		1,463
Total deferred (benefit) provision		454,699		(485,973)		506,808
Total (benefit) provision	$	533,684	$	(515,320)	$	865,818

Schedule of reconciliation of amounts computed by applying the statutory Federal tax rate to income before taxes

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2018	2017	2016
	% of pre-tax income/(loss)
Statutory rate	21.0	35.0	35.0
State income taxes, net of federal benefit	4.6	3.0	2.5
Tax Reform Act (1)	—	(72.6)	—
Nondeductible/Nontaxable items (2)	—	5.9	—
Other, net	(1.2)	(2.5)	(1.7)
Total (benefit) provision for income taxes	24.4	(31.2)	35.8

(1) On December 22, 2017, the Tax Reform Act was enacted, which, among other things, lowered the federal statutory corporate tax rate effective for us in future periods from 35% to 21%.  Consequently, we remeasured our deferred tax assets and liabilities as of December 31, 2017 which positively impacted our “Income tax (provision) benefit, net” by approximately $1.2 billion. 

(2) During the year ended December 31, 2017, we recorded $255 million of “Litigation expense” related to the FTC Action on our Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss).  Any eventual payments made with respect to the FTC Action may not be deductible for tax purposes, which had a negative impact on our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2017.  The tax deductibility of any eventual payments made with respect to the FTC Action may change, based upon, among other things, further developments in the FTC Action, including final adjudication of the FTC Action.  See Note 14 for further information.

Schedule of deferred tax assets and liabilities

	As of December 31,
	2018		2017
	(In thousands)
Deferred tax assets:
NOL, interest, credit and other carryforwards	$	114,227	$	55,505
Accrued and prepaid expenses		—		41,439
Stock-based compensation		21,323		14,904
Unrealized (gains) losses on available for sale and other investments		4,918		5,001
Deferred revenue		18,361		15,236
Total deferred tax assets		158,829		132,085
Valuation allowance		(26,244)		(18,642)
Deferred tax asset after valuation allowance		132,585		113,443
Deferred tax liabilities:
Depreciation		(443,128)		(496,873)
Accrued and prepaid expenses		(8,662)		—
FCC authorizations and other intangible amortization		(1,635,385)		(1,220,421)
Bases difference in partnerships and cost method investments (1)		(447,585)		(328,735)
Discount on convertible notes and convertible note hedge transaction, net		(72,732)		(81,346)
Other liabilities		—		(5,606)
Total deferred tax liabilities		(2,607,492)		(2,132,981)
Net deferred tax asset (liability)	$	(2,474,907)	$	(2,019,538)

(1) Included in this line item are deferred taxes related to, among other things, our non-controlling investments in Northstar Spectrum and SNR HoldCo, including deferred taxes created by the tax amortization of the Northstar Licenses and SNR Licenses. 

Schedule of reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits

	For the Years Ended December 31,
Unrecognized tax benefit	2018		2017		2016
	(In thousands)
Balance as of beginning of period	$	393,916	$	358,023	$	336,586
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year		10,350		12,798		40,492
Additions based on tax positions related to prior years		1,670		30,596		21,797
Reductions based on tax positions related to prior years		(6,291)		(2,754)		(34,106)
Reductions based on tax positions related to settlements with taxing authorities		(8,328)		(1,634)		(3,628)
Reductions based on tax positions related to the lapse of the statute of limitations		(5,923)		(3,113)		(3,118)
Balance as of end of period	$	385,394	$	393,916	$	358,023