Note 2 - Mergers and Acquisitions

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2014

Business Combinations [Abstract]

Business Combination Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 2: Mergers and Acquisitions

Pending Merger with LIN Media LLC

In March of 2014, the Company and LIN Media LLC (“LIN”) announced an agreement to combine the two companies under a newly formed holding company to be named Media General and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Under the merger agreement, LIN shareholders are to receive consideration of cash ($763 million in the aggregate) and shares of voting common stock (approximately 50.5 million shares in the aggregate). In addition, each outstanding share of voting common stock and non-voting common stock of Media General will be converted into one share of voting common stock or non-voting common stock of the new holding company. Together, the Company and LIN own or operate 74 stations across 46 markets. As described further below, station divestitures in certain markets will be required in order to address regulatory considerations. The transaction has been approved by both the Media General Board of Directors and the LIN Board of Directors. As set forth in the merger agreement, the closing of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of a number of conditions including, but not limited to, the approval of various matters relating to the transaction by Media General and LIN shareholders, the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”), clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and certain third party consents. Media General and LIN will convene special shareholder meetings on August 20, 2014, to vote on the transaction. The transaction is expected to close in early 2015. The Company incurred $3.3 million and $6.8 million of investment banking, legal and accounting fees and expenses in the three and six months ended June 30, 2014, respectively, related to the pending merger with LIN.

Media General and LIN will be required to swap or otherwise divest certain television stations in certain markets as part of the process of obtaining regulatory approvals for the transaction. Such markets include the Birmingham, AL; Green Bay, WI; Mobile, AL; Providence, RI; and Savannah, GA markets, in which Media General and LIN both own television stations. Media General and LIN have not yet determined which stations in these markets will be divested, or whether such stations will be swapped or sold for cash.

The Company may replace, in whole or in part, the divested revenues and cash flow in these markets by agreeing to swap one or more stations owned by Media General and/or LIN with one or more stations owned by other broadcast companies. Discussions with counterparties are ongoing but no agreements have been consummated. Any such swaps may be consummated directly with the counterparty or may be structured in multiple transactions and qualify as “like-kind exchanges” under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. The Company may also divest one or more stations in these markets by selling such stations for cash, the proceeds from which likely would be used for general corporate purposes, including reducing indebtedness.

Pending Acquisition of WHTM-TV

In June of 2014, the Company entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Sinclair Television Group, Inc. (“Sinclair”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. Under the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company has agreed to purchase the assets of WHTM-TV, a television station located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that is currently owned by Allbritton Communications (“Allbritton”), from Sinclair for approximately $83.4 million in cash. The completion of the transaction under the Purchase Agreement is subject to customary closing conditions for transactions of this type, including regulatory approvals, and is also subject to the closing of Sinclair’s separate transaction with Allbritton. Upon entering into the Purchase Agreement, the Company placed $8.3 million in escrow pending completion of the acquisition, which was recorded in other assets on the consolidated condensed balance sheet as of June 30, 2014.

Legacy Media General Merger

As described in Note 1, Legacy Media General and Young were combined in an all-stock merger transaction on November 12, 2013. The merger was accounted for as a reverse acquisition with Young as the acquirer solely for financial accounting purposes. Accordingly, Young’s cost to acquire Legacy Media General has been allocated to the acquired assets, liabilities and commitments based upon their estimated fair values. The pre-merger operations of Legacy Media General consisted of 18 network-affiliated broadcast television stations (and associated websites) primarily located in the southeastern United States. The purchase price of Legacy Media General was calculated based on the number of unrestricted Class A and B common shares outstanding (27,985,795 in aggregate) immediately prior to the merger multiplied by the closing price on November 11, 2013 of $15.06. In addition, the purchase price included the portion of performance accelerated restricted stock and stock options earned prior to the merger ($12.7 million in aggregate). The initial allocated fair value of acquired assets and assumed liabilities is summarized as follows:

(In thousands)
Current assets acquired	$	89,425
Property and equipment		183,362
Other assets acquired		24,563
FCC broadcast licenses		359,400
Definite lived intangible assets		214,080
Goodwill		487,223
Deferred income tax assets recorded in conjunction with the acquisition		49,725
Current liabilities assumed		(66,372	)
Long-term debt assumed		(701,408	)
Pension and postretirement liabilities assumed		(165,904	)
Other liabilities assumed		(39,908	)
Total	$	434,186

Current assets acquired included cash and cash equivalents of $17.3 million and trade accounts receivable of $64.4 million.

The amount allocated to definite-lived intangible assets represents the estimated fair values of network affiliations of $154.7 million, advertiser relationships of $58 million and favorable lease assets of $1.4 million. These intangible assets will be amortized over their weighted-average estimated remaining useful lives of 15 years for network affiliations, seven years for the advertiser relationships and 10 years for favorable lease assets. Acquired property and equipment will be depreciated on a straight-line basis over the respective estimated remaining useful lives.

The initial allocation presented above is based upon management’s estimate of the fair values using valuation techniques including income, cost and market approaches. In estimating the fair value of the acquired assets and assumed liabilities, the fair value estimates are based on, but not limited to, expected future revenue and cash flows, expected future growth rates and estimated discount rates. Network affiliations and advertiser relationships were primarily valued using an excess earnings income approach. The broadcast licenses represent the estimated fair value of the FCC license using a “Greenfield” income approach. Under this approach, the broadcast license is valued by analyzing the estimated after-tax discounted future cash flows of an average market participant. Property and equipment was primarily valued using a cost approach. Acquired program license rights will be amortized to operating expense over the estimated broadcast period in an amount equal to the relative benefit that is expected to be derived from the airing of the program, or on a straight line basis over the life of the program where the expected useful life is one year or less.

Goodwill is calculated as the excess of the consideration transferred over the fair value of the identifiable net assets acquired and liabilities assembled and represents the future economic benefits expected to arise from other intangible assets acquired that do not qualify for separate recognition, including assembled workforce and non-contractual relationships, as well as expected future synergies. Approximately $164 million of the goodwill recognized is expected to be tax deductible.

The initial purchase price allocation is based upon all information available to the Company at the present time and is subject to change, and such changes could be material.

The Company incurred $1.5 million and $2.8 million of legal, accounting and other professional fees and expenses in the three and six months ended June 30, 2014, respectively, related to the Legacy Media General merger. The expenses incurred in the second quarter were primarily attributable to the secondary offering described in Note 8. The Company incurred $4.4 million of legal, accounting and other professional fees and expenses in both the three and six months ended June 30, 2013, related to the Legacy Media General merger.

Net operating revenues of Legacy Media General included in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income, were $94 million and $183 million, respectively, for the three and six months ended June 30, 2014. Operating income of Legacy Media General included in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income, was $5.7 million and $14.1 million, respectively, for the same periods.

The following table sets forth unaudited pro forma results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2013, assuming that the Legacy Media General merger, the consolidation of the Shield Media entities described in Note 3 and the refinancing described in Note 4, occurred as of January 1, 2012:

	Three Months		Six Months
	Ended		Ended
(In thousands, except per share amounts)	June 30, 2013		June 30, 2013
Net operating revenue	$	137,802	$	262,141
Income from continuing operations		5,199		3,304
Income from continuing operations attributable to Media General		5,277		3,271
Income from continuing operations per share - basic and assuming dilution		0.06		0.04

The pro forma financial information presented above is based on historical results of operations, adjusted for the allocation of the purchase price and other acquisition accounting adjustments, and is not necessarily indicative of what the combined company’s results would have been had the transactions occurred as of January 1, 2012. The pro forma amounts include adjustments to depreciation and amortization expense due to the increased value assigned to property and equipment and intangible assets, adjustments to stock-based compensation expense due to the revaluation of stock options and performance accelerated restricted stock and the issuance of deferred stock units to certain executive officers, adjustments to interest expense to reflect the refinancing of the Company’s debt and the related tax effects of the adjustments. Pro forma results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2013, exclude merger-related expenses for the combined company of $11.6 million ($7.2 million of which was incurred by Legacy Media General).