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Description of Business and Basis of Presentation
3 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

NOTE 1. DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

Fox Corporation, a Delaware corporation (“FOX” or the “Company”), is a news, sports and entertainment company, which manages and reports its businesses in the following segments: Cable Network Programming, Television and Other, Corporate and Eliminations.

The accompanying Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements of FOX have been prepared in accordance with United States (“U.S.”) generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. In the opinion of management, all adjustments consisting only of normal recurring adjustments necessary for a fair presentation have been reflected in these Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements. Operating results for the interim periods presented are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, due to, among other things, the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) on the Company’s business.

The preparation of the Company’s Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts that are reported in the Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying disclosures. Although these estimates are based on management’s best knowledge of current events and actions that the Company may undertake in the future, actual results may differ from those estimates.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in widespread and continuing negative impacts on the macroeconomic environment and disruption to the Company’s business. Weak economic conditions and increased volatility and disruption in the financial markets pose risks to the Company and its business partners, including advertisers whose expenditures tend to reflect overall economic conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused some of the Company’s advertisers to reduce their spending, and future declines in the economic prospects of advertisers or the economy in general could negatively impact their advertising expenditures further. Depending on the duration and severity of the recession, it could lead to changes in consumer behavior, including increasing numbers of consumers canceling or foregoing subscriptions to multi-channel video programming distributor (“MVPD”) services, that adversely affect the Company’s affiliate fee and advertising revenues. In addition, the Company’s business depends on the volume and popularity of the content it distributes, particularly sports content. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, sports events to which the Company has broadcast rights have been cancelled or postponed and the production of certain entertainment content the Company distributes has been suspended. Although some of these sports events and productions have resumed, there may be additional content disruptions in the future. Depending on their duration and severity, these disruptions could materially adversely affect the Company’s future advertising revenues and, over a longer period, its future affiliate fee revenues. To the extent the pandemic further negatively impacts the Company’s ability to air sports events, particularly National Football League (“NFL”) and college sports, it could result in a significantly greater adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations than the Company has experienced thus far. In addition, shifting sports schedules may negatively impact the Company’s ability to attract viewers and advertisers to its sports and entertainment programming.

The Company assessed certain accounting matters that generally require consideration of forecasted financial information in context with the information reasonably available to the Company and the best estimates of the future impacts of COVID-19 as of September 30, 2020. The accounting matters assessed included, but were not limited to, the Company’s valuation allowances, programming rights and the carrying value of the goodwill and other long-lived assets. While there was not an impact to the Company’s consolidated financial statements as of September 30, 2020, the Company’s future assessment of the magnitude and duration of COVID-19, as well as other factors, could result in material impacts to the Company’s consolidated financial statements in future reporting periods.

These interim Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated and combined financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 10, 2020 (the “2020 Form 10-K”).

The Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of FOX. All significant intercompany transactions and accounts within the Company’s consolidated businesses have been eliminated. Investments in and advances to entities or joint ventures in which the Company has significant influence, but less than a controlling financial interest, are accounted for using the equity method. Significant influence generally exists when the Company owns an interest between 20% and 50%. In accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 321 “Investments—Equity Securities” (“ASC 321”), equity securities in which the Company has no significant influence (generally less than a 20% ownership interest) with readily determinable fair values are accounted for at fair value based on quoted market prices. Equity securities without readily determinable fair values are accounted for either at fair value or using the measurement alternative which is at cost minus impairment, if any, plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or a similar investment of the same issuer. All gains and losses on investments in equity securities are recognized in the Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Pursuant to the merger agreement relating to the merger of Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. (“21CF”) and The Walt Disney Company (“Disney”), the Company made a prepayment of approximately $700 million which represented the Company’s share of the estimated tax liabilities resulting from the anticipated divestitures by Disney of certain assets (the “Divestiture Tax”), principally the FOX Sports Regional Sports Networks (“RSNs”). As of September 30, 2020, Disney had sold the RSNs, the Company and Disney reached an agreement to settle the majority of the prepaid Divestiture Tax and the Company received $462 million from Disney as reimbursement of the Company’s prepayment based upon the sales price of the RSNs. This reimbursement was recorded in Other, net in the Statement of Operations (See Note 11Additional Financial Information under the heading “Other, net”). The balance of the prepaid Divestiture Tax is subject to adjustment in the future, but any such adjustment is not expected to have a material impact on the results of the Company.

The Company’s fiscal year ends on June 30 of each year. Certain fiscal 2020 amounts have been reclassified to conform to the fiscal 2021 presentation.

The unaudited and audited consolidated financial statements are referred to as the “Financial Statements” herein. The unaudited consolidated statements of operations are referred to as the “Statements of Operations” herein. The unaudited and audited consolidated balance sheets are referred to as the “Balance Sheets” herein.

Recently Adopted and Recently Issued Accounting Guidance

Adopted

In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-13, “Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments” (“ASU 2016-13”), as amended. On July 1, 2020, the Company adopted ASU 2016-13 on a modified retrospective basis. The amendments in ASU 2016-13 require, among other things, financial assets measured at amortized cost basis to be presented at the net amount expected to be collected as compared to previous GAAP which delayed recognition until it was probable a loss had been incurred. The adoption of ASU 2016-13 did not have a material impact on the Company’s Financial Statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-15, “Intangibles—Goodwill and Other—Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract” (“ASU 2018-15”). On July 1, 2020, the Company adopted ASU 2018-15 on a prospective basis. The amendments in ASU 2018-15 require implementation costs incurred in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract to be capitalized using the same guidance for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software. In addition, ASU 2018-15 provides guidance regarding the term over which capitalized implementation costs are to be amortized and requires specific financial statement presentation and disclosures. The adoption of ASU 2018-15 did not have a material impact on the Company’s Financial Statements.

In March 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-02, “Entertainment—Films—Other Assets—Film Costs (Subtopic 926-20) and Entertainment—Broadcasters—Intangibles—Goodwill and Other (Subtopic 920-350): Improvements to Accounting for Costs of Films and License Agreements for Program Materials” (“ASU 2019-02”). On July 1, 2020, the Company adopted ASU 2019-02 on a prospective basis and reclassified entertainment programming rights, with a contract duration of longer than a year, that were previously classified as the current portion of inventories, net to non-current inventories, net on the Balance Sheet. The amendments in ASU 2019-02 align the accounting treatment for production costs of episodic television series with the accounting treatment for production costs of films. In addition,

ASU 2019-02 modifies certain aspects of the amortization, impairment, presentation and disclosure requirements in ASC 926-20 and the impairment, presentation and disclosure requirements in ASC 920-350, including eliminating the balance sheet classification guidance. The adoption of ASU 2019-02 did not have a significant impact on the Company’s Financial Statements (See Note 3—Inventories, net for additional information).