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DERIVATIVE CONTRACTS AND COLLATERALIZED INDEBTEDNESS
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019
Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]  
DERIVATIVE CONTRACTS AND COLLATERALIZED INDEBTEDNESS DERIVATIVE CONTRACTS AND COLLATERALIZED INDEBTEDNESS
Prepaid Forward Contracts
The Company has entered into various transactions to limit the exposure against equity price risk on its shares of Comcast Corporation ("Comcast") common stock.  The Company has monetized all of its stock holdings in Comcast through the execution of prepaid forward contracts, collateralized by an equivalent amount of the respective underlying stock.  At maturity, the contracts provide for the option to deliver cash or shares of Comcast stock with a value determined by reference to the applicable stock price at maturity.  These contracts, at maturity, are expected to offset declines in the
fair value of these securities below the hedge price per share while allowing the Company to retain upside appreciation from the hedge price per share to the relevant cap price.  
The Company received cash proceeds upon execution of the prepaid forward contracts discussed above which has been reflected as collateralized indebtedness in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.  In addition, the Company separately accounts for the equity derivative component of the prepaid forward contracts.  These equity derivatives have not been designated as hedges for accounting purposes.  Therefore, the net fair values of the equity derivatives have been reflected in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets as an asset or liability and the net increases or decreases in the fair value of the equity derivative component of the prepaid forward contracts are included in gain (loss) on derivative contracts in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations.
All of the Company's monetization transactions are obligations of its wholly-owned subsidiaries that are not part of the Restricted Group; however, CSC Holdings has provided guarantees of the subsidiaries' ongoing contract payment expense obligations and potential payments that could be due as a result of an early termination event (as defined in the agreements).  If any one of these contracts were terminated prior to its scheduled maturity date, the Company would be obligated to repay the fair value of the collateralized indebtedness less the sum of the fair values of the underlying stock and equity collar, calculated at the termination date.  As of September 30, 2019, the Company did not have an early termination shortfall relating to any of these contracts.
The Company monitors the financial institutions that are counterparties to its equity derivative contracts.  All of the counterparties to such transactions carry investment grade credit ratings as of September 30, 2019.
Interest Rate Swap Contracts
To manage interest rate risk, we have from time to time entered into interest rate swap contracts to adjust the proportion of total debt that is subject to variable and fixed interest rates. Such contracts effectively fix the borrowing rates on floating rate debt to provide an economic hedge against the risk of rising rates and/or effectively convert fixed rate borrowings to variable rates to permit the Company to realize lower interest expense in a declining interest rate environment. We monitor the financial institutions that are counterparties to our interest rate swap contracts and we only enter into interest rate swap contracts with financial institutions that are rated investment grade. All such contracts are carried at their fair values on our consolidated balance sheets, with changes in fair value reflected in the consolidated statements of operations. As of September 30, 2019, the Company did not hold and has not issued derivative instruments for trading or speculative purposes.
The following represents the location of the assets and liabilities associated with the Company's derivative instruments within the consolidated balance sheets:
Derivatives Not Designated as Hedging Instruments
 
Balance Sheet Location
 
Fair Value at
 
 
September 30, 2019
 
December 31, 2018
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Asset Derivatives:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Interest rate swap contracts
 
Derivative contracts, current
 
$
—

 
$
1,975

Interest rate swap contracts
 
Derivative contracts, long-term
 
2,634

 
—

Prepaid forward contracts
 
Derivative contracts, long-term
 
—

 
109,344

 
 
 
 
2,634

 
111,319

Liability Derivatives:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Interest rate swap contracts
 
Other current liabilities
 
(674
)
 
(70
)
Prepaid forward contracts
 
Liabilities under derivative contracts, long-term
 
(194,643
)
 
—

Interest rate swap contracts
 
Liabilities under derivative contracts, long-term
 
(182,970
)
 
(132,908
)
 
 
 
 
$
(378,287
)
 
$
(132,978
)

The following table presents certain statement of operations data related to our derivative contracts and the underlying common stock:
 
 
Three Months Ended
 
Nine Months Ended
 
Three Months Ended
 
Nine Months Ended
 
 
September 30, 2019
 
September 30, 2018
Gain (loss) on derivative contracts (related to change in the value of equity derivative contracts related to Comcast common stock)
 
$
(77,333
)
 
$
(303,986
)
 
$
(79,628
)
 
$
130,883

Change in fair value of Comcast common stock included in gain (loss) on investments
 
120,277

 
473,796

 
111,684

 
(199,312
)
Loss on interest rate swap contracts
 
(11,163
)
 
(61,735
)
 
(19,554
)
 
(64,405
)