Note 1 - Description of Business and Basis of Presentation	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018
Notes to Financial Statements
Business Description and Basis of Presentation [Text Block]	1. DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION Description of Business. Cable One, Inc. (“Cable One”) owns and operates cable systems that provide data, video and voice services to residential and commercial subscribers in 21 Western, Midwestern and Southern states of the United States. As of March 31, 2018, Cable One provided service to 651,550 data customers, 350,874 video customers and 131,920 voice customers. On May 1, 2017, Cable One completed the acquisition of all of the outstanding equity interests of RBI Holding LLC (“NewWave”), which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Cable One. Refer to note 4 for details on the transaction and note 8 for details on the related financing. Unless otherwise stated or the context otherwise indicates, all references in this Quarterly Report on Form 10 -Q to “Cable One,” “us,” “our,” “we” or the “Company” refer to Cable One, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries. Basis of Presentation. The condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes thereto have been prepared in accordance with: (i) generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) for interim financial information; and (ii) the guidance of Rule 10 - 01 of Regulation S- X under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), for financial statements required to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). As permitted under such guidance, certain notes and other financial information normally required by GAAP have been omitted. Management believes the condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all normal and recurring adjustments necessary for a fair statement of the Company’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows as of and for the periods presented herein. These condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited and should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10 -K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 filed with the SEC on March 1, 2018 ( the “2017 Form 10 -K”). The December 31, 2017 year-end balance sheet data was derived from the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. The Company’s interim results of operations may not be indicative of its future results. Principles of Consolidation. The condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company, including its subsidiaries. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Segment Reporting. Accounting Standard Codification (“ASC”) 280 - Segment Reporting requires the disclosure of factors used to identify an entity’s reportable segments. The Company’s operations are organized and managed on the basis of cable systems within its geographic regions. Each cable system derives revenues from the delivery of similar products and services to a customer base that is also similar. Each cable system deploys similar technology to deliver the Company’s products and services, operates within a similar regulatory environment, has similar economic characteristics and is managed by the Company’s chief operating decision maker as part of an aggregate of all cable systems. Management evaluated the criteria for aggregation under ASC 280 and believes that the Company meets each of the respective criteria set forth therein. Accordingly, management has identified one reportable segment. Use of Estimates. The preparation of the condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported herein. Management bases its estimates and assumptions on historical experience and on various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Due to the inherent uncertainty involved in making estimates, actual results reported in future periods may be affected by changes in those estimates and underlying assumptions. Revenue Recognition. The Company recognizes revenue in accordance with ASC 606 - Revenue from Contracts with Customers . Residential revenues are generated through subscriptions for data, video and voice services, which are sold individually and through bundles, typically at a discounted rate on month to month terms, without penalty for cancellations. If a customer has bundled subscriptions, the sales price is allocated amongst the product lines based on the relative standalone selling prices charged to customers with unbundled service agreements. Business revenues are generated through subscriptions for data, video and voice services which are also sold individually and through bundles with varying contract terms ranging from one month to several years. The Company generally receives an allocation of scheduled advertising time as part of its distribution agreement with cable networks, which the Company sells to local, regional and national advertisers with terms that are generally less than one year. In most cases, the available advertising time is sold by the Company’s internal sales force. Since the Company is acting as principal in these arrangements, the advertising that is sold is reported as revenue on a gross basis. In cases where advertising time is sold by agencies, the Company is not acting as a principal and the advertising sold is reported net of agency fees. Advertising revenues are recognized when the commercials are aired. The unit of account for ASC 606 is a performance obligation, which is a requirement within a contract to transfer a distinct good or service to a customer. A contract’s transaction price is allocated to each distinct performance obligation and recognized as revenue when, or as, performance is satisfied. Our residential and business portfolio may include a single performance obligation or multiple performance obligations that are delivered in a similar pattern of transfer. Customers are billed for various services to which they subscribe based upon published or contracted rates for each service. For contracts with multiple performance obligations, the transaction price is allocated to each performance obligation based on the published or contracted rate. These performance obligations are generally satisfied over time as customers simultaneously receive and consume the benefits of the Company’s defined performance obligations. Advertising revenues are recognized at a point in time when the underlying performance obligation is complete. The Company also incurs incremental internal costs to acquire residential and business customers, such as commission costs, and third -party costs to service specific contracts. These costs are capitalized as contract assets and amortized over the applicable period. For commissions, the amortization period is the average customer tenure, which was approximately five years for both residential and business customers. All other costs are amortized over the contract period. Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements. In May 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2017 - 09, Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718 ): Scope of Modification Accounting . ASU 2017 - 09 provides guidance about which changes to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment award require an entity to apply modification accounting in accordance with Topic 718. The ASU was effective January 1, 2018. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements, but may have an impact in the future. In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017 - 04, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350 ): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment. ASU 2017 - 04 removes Step two of the previous goodwill impairment test under ASC 350 and replaces it with a simplified model. Under the simplified model, goodwill impairment will be calculated as the difference between the carrying amount of a reporting unit and its fair value, but not to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill. The amount of any impairment under the simplified model may differ from what would have been recognized under the previous two -step test. The ASU is effective for annual and any interim impairment tests performed for periods beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The Company elected to early adopt the standard on January 1, 2018. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements, but may have an impact in the future. In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017 - 01, Business Combinations (Topic 805 ): Clarifying the Definition of a Business . The purpose of the amendment is to clarify the definition of a business with the objective of adding guidance to assist entities with evaluating whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions (or disposals) of assets or businesses. The ASU was effective January 1, 2018. The adoption of this guidance did not have an impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements as no asset acquisitions or business combinations have occurred since the effective date, but may have an impact in the future. In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016 - 15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230 ) : Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments . The guidance clarifies the way in which certain cash receipts and cash payments should be classified within the consolidated statements of cash flows and also how the predominance principle should be applied when cash receipts and cash payments have aspects of more than one class of cash flows. ASU 2016 - 15 was effective January 1, 2018. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the classification of any cash flows within the Company’s consolidated statements of cash flows, but may have an impact in the future. In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014 - 09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606 ). ASU 2014 - 09 provides new guidance related to how an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The new standard provides a single principles-based, five step model to be applied to all contracts with customers: (i) identify the contract(s) with the customer, (ii) identify the performance obligations in the contract, (iii) determine the transaction price, (iv) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract and (v) recognize revenue when each performance obligation is satisfied. The updated guidance also requires additional disclosures regarding the nature, timing and any uncertainty regarding potential revenue recognition. We adopted the updated guidance on January 1, 2018 on a full retrospective basis, which required us to reflect the impact of the updated guidance for all periods presented. Upon adoption, we also implemented changes in our presentation of certain revenues and expenses, which resulted in the deferral of all business installation revenues and residential and business commission expenses over a period of time instead of immediate recognition. The adoption of the new standard did not have a material impact on our consolidated results of operations or financial position for any period presented. Refer to note 3 for further details of the impact on the Company’s 2017 condensed consolidated financial statements and the requisite disclosures regarding the nature, timing and any uncertainty regarding potential revenue recognition. Recently Issued But Not Yet Adopted Accounting Pronouncements. In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016 - 02, Leases (Topic 842 ) . ASU 2016 - 02 requires lessees to record most of their leases on the balance sheet as a right-of-use asset and a corresponding lease liability. The Company will be required to classify each separate lease component as an operating or finance lease at the lease commencement date. Initial measurement of the right-of-use asset and lease liability is the same for both operating and finance leases, however, expense recognition and amortization of the right-of-use asset differs. Operating leases will reflect lease expense on a straight-line basis similar to current operating leases while finance leases will reflect a front-loaded expense pattern similar to current capital leases. ASU 2016 - 02 is effective for the first quarter of 2019, with early adoption permitted. The adoption of this update will result in an increase to the Company’s asset and liability balances due to new and existing operating leases being recorded on the balance sheet. The Company continues to evaluate the impact of adopting this guidance on its consolidated financial statements.

DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

Description of Business.

Cable One, Inc. (“Cable One”) owns and operates cable systems that provide data, video and voice services to residential and commercial subscribers in

Western, Midwestern and Southern states of the United States. As of

March 31, 2018,

Cable One provided service to

651,550

data customers,

350,874

video customers and

131,920

voice customers.

May 1, 2017,

Cable One completed the acquisition of all of the outstanding equity interests of RBI Holding LLC (“NewWave”), which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Cable One. Refer to note

for details on the transaction and note

for details on the related financing.

Unless otherwise stated or the context otherwise indicates, all references in this Quarterly Report on Form

-Q to “Cable One,” “us,” “our,” “we” or the “Company” refer to Cable One, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries.

Basis of Presentation.

The condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes thereto have been prepared in accordance with: (i) generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) for interim financial information; and (ii) the guidance of Rule

of Regulation S-

under the Securities Exchange Act of

1934,

as amended (the “Exchange Act”), for financial statements required to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). As permitted under such guidance, certain notes and other financial information normally required by GAAP have been omitted. Management believes the condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all normal and recurring adjustments necessary for a fair statement of the Company’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows as of and for the periods presented herein. These condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited and should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form

-K for the fiscal year ended

December 31, 2017

filed with the SEC on

March 1, 2018 (

the

“2017

Form

-K”). The

December 31, 2017

year-end balance sheet data was derived from the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements, but does

not

include all disclosures required by GAAP. The Company’s interim results of operations

may

not

be indicative of its future results.

Principles of Consolidation.

The condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company, including its subsidiaries. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Segment Reporting.

Accounting Standard Codification (“ASC”)

280

Segment Reporting

requires the disclosure of factors used to identify an entity’s reportable segments. The Company’s operations are organized and managed on the basis of cable systems within its geographic regions. Each cable system derives revenues from the delivery of similar products and services to a customer base that is also similar. Each cable system deploys similar technology to deliver the Company’s products and services, operates within a similar regulatory environment, has similar economic characteristics and is managed by the Company’s chief operating decision maker as part of an aggregate of all cable systems. Management evaluated the criteria for aggregation under ASC

280

and believes that the Company meets each of the respective criteria set forth therein. Accordingly, management has identified

one

reportable segment.

Use of Estimates.

The preparation of the condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported herein. Management bases its estimates and assumptions on historical experience and on various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Due to the inherent uncertainty involved in making estimates, actual results reported in future periods

may

be affected by changes in those estimates and underlying assumptions.

Revenue Recognition.

The Company recognizes revenue in accordance with ASC

606

Revenue from Contracts with Customers

Residential revenues are generated through subscriptions for data, video and voice services, which are sold individually and through bundles, typically at a discounted rate on month to month terms, without penalty for cancellations. If a customer has bundled subscriptions, the sales price is allocated amongst the product lines based on the relative standalone selling prices charged to customers with unbundled service agreements. Business revenues are generated through subscriptions for data, video and voice services which are also sold individually and through bundles with varying contract terms ranging from

one

month to several years.

The Company generally receives an allocation of scheduled advertising time as part of its distribution agreement with cable networks, which the Company sells to local, regional and national advertisers with terms that are generally less than

one

year. In most cases, the available advertising time is sold by the Company’s internal sales force. Since the Company is acting as principal in these arrangements, the advertising that is sold is reported as revenue on a gross basis. In cases where advertising time is sold by agencies, the Company is

not

acting as a principal and the advertising sold is reported net of agency fees. Advertising revenues are recognized when the commercials are aired.

The unit of account for ASC

606

is a performance obligation, which is a requirement within a contract to transfer a distinct good or service to a customer. A contract’s transaction price is allocated to each distinct performance obligation and recognized as revenue when, or as, performance is satisfied. Our residential and business portfolio

may

include a single performance obligation or multiple performance obligations that are delivered in a similar pattern of transfer. Customers are billed for various services to which they subscribe based upon published or contracted rates for each service. For contracts with multiple performance obligations, the transaction price is allocated to each performance obligation based on the published or contracted rate. These performance obligations are generally satisfied over time as customers simultaneously receive and consume the benefits of the Company’s defined performance obligations. Advertising revenues are recognized at a point in time when the underlying performance obligation is complete.

The Company also incurs incremental internal costs to acquire residential and business customers, such as commission costs, and

third

-party costs to service specific contracts. These costs are capitalized as contract assets and amortized over the applicable period. For commissions, the amortization period is the average customer tenure, which was approximately

five

years for both residential and business customers. All other costs are amortized over the contract period.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements.

May 2017,

the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”)

No.

2017

09,

Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic

718

): Scope of Modification Accounting

. ASU

2017

provides guidance about which changes to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment award require an entity to apply modification accounting in accordance with Topic

718.

The ASU was effective

January 1, 2018.

The adoption of this guidance did

not

have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements, but

may

have an impact in the future.

January 2017,

the FASB issued ASU

No.

2017

04,

Intangibles

- Goodwill and Other (Topic

350

): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment.

ASU

2017

removes Step

two

of the previous goodwill impairment test under ASC

350

and replaces it with a simplified model. Under the simplified model, goodwill impairment will be calculated as the difference between the carrying amount of a reporting unit and its fair value, but

not

to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill. The amount of any impairment under the simplified model

may

differ from what would have been recognized under the previous

two

-step test. The ASU is effective for annual and any interim impairment tests performed for periods beginning after

December 15, 2019,

with early adoption permitted. The Company elected to early adopt the standard on

January 1, 2018.

The adoption of this guidance did

not

have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements, but

may

have an impact in the future.

January 2017,

the FASB issued ASU

No.

2017

01,

Business Combinations (Topic

805

): Clarifying the Definition of a Business

. The purpose of the amendment is to clarify the definition of a business with the objective of adding guidance to assist entities with evaluating whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions (or disposals) of assets or businesses. The ASU was effective

January 1, 2018.

The adoption of this guidance did

not

have an impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements as

asset acquisitions or business combinations have occurred since the effective date, but

may

have an impact in the future.

August 2016,

the FASB issued ASU

No.

2016

15,

Statement of Cash Flows (Topic

230

)

Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments

. The guidance clarifies the way in which certain cash receipts and cash payments should be classified within the consolidated statements of cash flows and also how the predominance principle should be applied when cash receipts and cash payments have aspects of more than

one

class of cash flows. ASU

2016

was effective

January 1, 2018.

The adoption of this guidance did

not

have a material impact on the classification of any cash flows within the Company’s consolidated statements of cash flows, but

may

have an impact in the future.

May 2014,

the FASB issued ASU

No.

2014

09,

Revenue from Contracts with Customers

(Topic

606

). ASU

2014

provides new guidance related to how an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The new standard provides a single principles-based,

five

step model to be applied to all contracts with customers: (i) identify the contract(s) with the customer, (ii) identify the performance obligations in the contract, (iii) determine the transaction price, (iv) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract and (v) recognize revenue when each performance obligation is satisfied. The updated guidance also requires additional disclosures regarding the nature, timing and any uncertainty regarding potential revenue recognition.

We adopted the updated guidance on

January 1, 2018

on a full retrospective basis, which required us to reflect the impact of the updated guidance for all periods presented. Upon adoption, we also implemented changes in our presentation of certain revenues and expenses, which resulted in the deferral of all business installation revenues and residential and business commission expenses over a period of time instead of immediate recognition. The adoption of the new standard did

not

have a material impact on our consolidated results of operations or financial position for any period presented. Refer to note

for further details of the impact on the Company’s

2017

condensed consolidated financial statements and the requisite disclosures regarding the nature, timing and any uncertainty regarding potential revenue recognition.

Recently Issued

But

Not

Yet Adopted

Accounting Pronouncements.

February 2016,

the FASB issued ASU

No.

2016

02,

Leases (Topic

842

)

. ASU

2016

requires lessees to record most of their leases on the balance sheet as a right-of-use asset and a corresponding lease liability. The Company will be required to classify each separate lease component as an operating or finance lease at the lease commencement date. Initial measurement of the right-of-use asset and lease liability is the same for both operating and finance leases, however, expense recognition and amortization of the right-of-use asset differs. Operating leases will reflect lease expense on a straight-line basis similar to current operating leases while finance leases will reflect a front-loaded expense pattern similar to current capital leases. ASU

2016

is effective for the

first

quarter of

2019,

with early adoption permitted. The adoption of this update will result in an increase to the Company’s asset and liability balances due to new and existing operating leases being recorded on the balance sheet. The Company continues to evaluate the impact of adopting this guidance

on its consolidated financial statements.