PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENTCosts incurred in the construction of the Company's cable systems, including line extensions to, and upgrade of, the Company's hybrid fiber/coaxial infrastructure and construction of the parallel fiber to the home ("FTTH") infrastructure, are capitalized. This includes initial placement of the feeder cable to connect a customer that had not been previously connected, and headend facilities. These costs consist of materials, subcontractor labor, direct consulting fees, and internal labor and related costs associated with the construction activities. The internal costs that are capitalized consist of salaries and benefits of the Company's employees and the portion of facility costs, including rent, taxes, insurance and utilities, that supports the construction activities. These costs are depreciated over the estimated life of the plant (10 to 25 years) and headend facilities (5 to 25 years). Costs of operating the plant and the technical facilities, including repairs and maintenance, are expensed as incurred.

Installation costs associated with the initial deployment of new customer premise equipment ("CPE") necessary to provide broadband, video or telephony services are also capitalized. These costs include materials, subcontractor labor, internal labor, and other related costs associated with the connection activities. The departmental activities supporting the connection process are tracked through specific metrics, and the portion of departmental costs that is capitalized is determined through a time weighted activity allocation of costs incurred based on time studies used to estimate the average time spent on each activity. These installation costs are amortized over the estimated useful lives of the CPE necessary to provide broadband, video or telephony services. The portion of departmental costs related to disconnecting services and removing CPE from a customer, costs related to connecting CPE that has been previously connected to the network and repair and maintenance are expensed as incurred.

The estimated useful lives assigned to our property, plant and equipment are reviewed on an annual basis or more frequently if circumstances warrant and such lives are revised to the extent necessary due to changing facts and circumstances. Any changes in estimated useful lives are reflected prospectively.

Property, plant and equipment (including equipment under finance leases) consist of the following assets, which are depreciated or amortized on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives shown below:


	December 31, 2019		December 31, 2018		Estimated Useful Lives
Customer premise equipment	$	1,563,729	$	1,354,510	3 to 5 years
Headends and related equipment	2,023,684		1,852,105		5 to 25 years

Infrastructure	5,314,322		4,595,143		5 to 25 years
Equipment and software	1,111,577		1,083,166		3 to 10 years
Construction in progress (including materials and supplies)	192,571		215,684
Furniture and fixtures	63,478		57,448		5 to 8 years
Transportation equipment	151,627		146,387		5 to 10 years
Buildings and building improvements	457,174		411,573		10 to 40 years
Leasehold improvements	103,734		109,110		Term of lease
Land	48,426		48,426
	11,030,322		9,873,552
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization	(5,276,921)		(4,044,671)
	$	5,753,401	$	5,828,881

For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, the Company capitalized certain costs aggregating $132,966, $134,265 and $151,646, respectively, related to the acquisition and development of internal use software, which are included in the table above.

Depreciation expense on property, plant and equipment (including finance leases) for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 amounted to $1,475,251, $1,508,125 and $1,588,764, respectively.