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Related Party Transactions (Notes)
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions
Related Party Transactions

The following sets forth certain transactions in which the Company and the directors, executive officers, and affiliates of the Company are involved.

Liberty Broadband and A/N

Under the terms of the Amended and Restated Stockholders Agreement with Liberty Broadband Corporation (“Liberty Broadband”), A/N and Charter, dated May 23, 2015, the number of Charter’s directors is fixed at 13, and includes its CEO. Two designees selected by A/N are members of the board of directors of Charter and three designees selected by Liberty Broadband are members of the board of directors of Charter. The remaining eight directors are not affiliated with either A/N or Liberty Broadband. Each of A/N and Liberty Broadband is entitled to nominate at least one director to each of the committees of Charter’s board of directors, subject to applicable stock exchange listing rules and certain specified voting or equity ownership thresholds for each of A/N and Liberty Broadband, and provided that the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the Compensation and Benefit Committee each have at least a majority of directors independent from A/N, Liberty Broadband and Charter (referred to as the “unaffiliated directors”). Each of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the Compensation and Benefits Committee is currently comprised of three unaffiliated directors and one designee of each of A/N and Liberty Broadband. A/N and Liberty Broadband also have certain other committee designation and other governance rights. Mr. Thomas Rutledge, the Company’s CEO, is the chairman of the board of Charter.

In December 2017, Charter and A/N entered into an amendment to the letter agreement (the “Letter Agreement”) that requires A/N to sell to Charter or to Charter Holdings, on a monthly basis, a number of shares of Charter Class A common stock or Charter Holdings common units that represents a pro rata participation by A/N and its affiliates in any repurchases of shares of Charter Class A common stock from persons other than A/N effected by Charter during the immediately preceding calendar month, at a purchase price equal to the average price paid by Charter for the shares repurchased from persons other than A/N during such immediately preceding calendar month. A/N and Charter both have the right to terminate or suspend the pro rata repurchase arrangement on a prospective basis once Charter or Charter Holdings have repurchased shares of Class A common stock or Charter Holdings common units from A/N and its affiliates for an aggregate purchase price of $400 million.

The Company is aware that Dr. John Malone may be deemed to have a 37.5% voting interest in Qurate Retail, Inc. ("Qurate," formerly known as Liberty Interactive Corporation) and is on the board of directors of Qurate. Qurate wholly owns HSN, Inc. (“HSN”) and QVC, Inc. (“QVC”). The Company has programming relationships with HSN and QVC. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2018, the Company recorded revenue in aggregate of approximately $17 million and $33 million, respectively, and for the three and six months ended June 30, 2017, the Company recorded revenue in aggregate of approximately $16 million and $33 million, respectively, from HSN and QVC as part of channel carriage fees and revenue sharing arrangements for home shopping sales made to customers in the Company’s footprint.

Dr. Malone and Mr. Steven Miron, each a member of Charter’s board of directors, also serve on the board of directors of Discovery Communications, Inc., (“Discovery”). The Company is aware that Dr. Malone owns 93.6% of the series B common stock of Discovery, 6% of the series C common stock of Discovery and has a 28% voting interest in Discovery for the election of directors. The Company is aware that Advance/Newhouse Programming Partnership (“A/N PP”), an affiliate of A/N and of which Mr. Miron is the CEO, owns 100% of the Series A-1 preferred stock of Discovery and 100% of the Series C-1 preferred stock of Discovery and has a 24.2% voting interest for the election of directors. A/N PP has the right to appoint three directors out of a total of eleven directors to Discovery’s board to be elected by the holders of Discovery’s Series A-1 preferred stock. In addition, Dr. Malone is a member of the board of directors of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (“Lions Gate”, parent company of Starz, Inc.) and owns approximately 7.9% of Lions Gate's Class A voting shares and 5.5% of Lions Gate's Class B non-voting shares and has 7.9% of the voting power, pursuant to his ownership of Lions Gate Class A voting shares. Lions Gate reported in July 2018 that Dr. Malone notified it of his intention to retire from the Lions Gate board of directors effective as of their annual meeting of shareholders in September 2018. The Company purchases programming from both Discovery and Lions Gate pursuant to agreements entered into prior to Dr. Malone and Mr. Miron joining Charter’s board of directors. Based on publicly available information, the Company does not believe that either Discovery or Lions Gate would currently be considered related parties. The amounts paid in the aggregate to Discovery and Lions Gate represent less than 3% of total operating costs and expenses for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017.

Equity Investments

The Company has agreements with certain equity-method investees pursuant to which the Company has made or received related party transaction payments. The Company recorded payments to equity-method investees totaling $86 million and $149 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2018, respectively, and $78 million and $146 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2017, respectively.