Note 10 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Text Block]

. Goodwill and Intangible Assets

During the year

s ended

December 31, 2017

and

2016,

we acquired and disposed of various television broadcast stations and broadcast licenses. As a result of these transactions, our goodwill and intangible balances increased during each of these years. See Note

“Acquisitions and Dispositions” for more information regarding these transactions. A summary of changes in our goodwill and other intangible assets, on a net basis, for the years ended

December 31, 2017

and

2016

is as follows (in thousands):

	Net Balance at												Net Balance at
	December 31,												December 31,
	2016		Acquisitions		Dispositions			Impairment		Amortization			2017
Goodwill	$	485,318	$	125,782	$	-		$	-	$	-		$	611,100
Broadcast licenses		1,340,305	$	203,503		(13,105	)		-		-			1,530,703
Finite-lived intangible assets		56,250		42,606		-			-		(25,072	)		73,784
Total intangible assets net of accumulated amortization	$	1,881,873	$	371,891	$	(13,105	)	$	-	$	(25,072	)	$	2,215,587

	Net Balance at												Net Balance at
	December 31,												December 31,
	2015		Acquisitions		Dispositions			Impairment		Amortization			2016
Goodwill	$	423,236	$	72,296	$	(10,214	)	$	-	$	-		$	485,318
Broadcast licenses		1,114,626		251,035		(25,356	)		-		-			1,340,305
Finite-lived intangible assets		53,280		19,566		-			-		(16,596	)		56,250
Total intangible assets net of accumulated amortization	$	1,591,142	$	342,897	$	(35,570	)	$	-	$	(16,596	)	$	1,881,873

A summary of changes in our goodwill, on a gross basis, for the years ended

December 31, 2017

and

2016

is as follows (in thousands):

	As of									As of
	December 31, 2016			Acquisitions		Dispositions		Impairment		December 31, 2017
Goodwill, gross	$	583,914		$	125,782	$	-	$	-	$	709,696
Accumulated goodwill impairment		(98,596	)		-		-		-		(98,596	)
Goodwill, net	$	485,318		$	125,782	$	-	$	-	$	611,100

	As of										As of
	December 31, 2015			Acquisitions		Dispositions			Impairment		December 31, 2016
Goodwill, gross	$	521,832		$	72,296	$	(10,214	)	$	-	$	583,914
Accumulated goodwill impairment		(98,596	)		-		-			-		(98,596	)
Goodwill, net	$	423,236		$	72,296	$	(10,214	)	$	-	$	485,318

As of

December 31, 2017

and

2016,

our intangible assets and related accumulated amortization consisted of the following (in thousands):

	As of December 31, 2017							As of December 31, 2016
			Accumulated							Accumulated
	Gross		Amortization			Net		Gross		Amortization			Net
Intangible assets not currently subject to amortization:
Broadcast licenses	$	1,584,402	$	(53,699	)	$	1,530,703	$	1,394,004	$	(53,699	)	$	1,340,305
Goodwill		611,100		-			611,100		485,318		-			485,318
	$	2,195,502	$	(53,699	)	$	2,141,803	$	1,879,322	$	(53,699	)	$	1,825,623

Intangible assets subject to amortization:
Network affiliation agreements	$	6,134	$	(3,551	)	$	2,583	$	1,264	$	(1,264	)	$	-
Other finite-lived intangible assets		143,446		(72,245	)		71,201		105,792		(49,542	)		56,250
	$	149,580	$	(75,796	)	$	73,784	$	107,056	$	(50,806	)	$	56,250

Total intangibles	$	2,345,082	$	(129,495	)	$	2,215,587	$	1,986,378	$	(104,505	)	$	1,881,873

Amortization expense for the years ended

December 31, 2017,

2016

and

2015

was

$25.1

million,

$16.6

million and

$12.0

million, respectively. Based on our intangible assets subject to amortization as of

December 31, 2017,

we expect that amortization expense for the succeeding

five

years will be as follows:

2018,

$20.6

million;

2019,

$15.4

million;

2020,

$12.4

million;

2021,

$8.3

million; and

2022,

$4.8

million. If and when acquisitions and dispositions occur in the future, actual amounts

may

vary from these estimates.

Impairment of goodwill and broadcast license

As of

December 31, 2017

and

2016,

we tested our goodwill, broadcast licenses and other intangible asset recorded values for potential impairment and concluded that the balances were reasonably stated. As a result, we did

not

record an impairment expense for our goodwill, broadcast licenses or other intangible assets during

2017,

2016

2015.

Completion

of FCC Spectrum Auction.

August 7, 2017,

we received

$90.8

million resulting from our relinquishment of

two

licenses in the FCC’s Spectrum Auction. In connection with this transaction we tendered

two

of our broadcast licenses and made other modifications to our broadcast spectrum related to our participation in the FCC Spectrum Auction. The cost of the assets disposed of was

$13.1

million. The income tax obligations related to this gain have been deferred on a long-term basis.

See Note

“Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies”

for further discussion of our accounting policies regarding goodwill, broadcast licenses and other intangible assets.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the aggregate amount of goodwill and a description of intangible assets, which may include (a) for amortizable intangible assets (also referred to as finite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, the amount of any significant residual value, and the weighted-average amortization period, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization (also referred to as indefinite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, and (c) the amount of research and development assets acquired and written off in the period, including the line item in the income statement in which the amounts written off are aggregated, if not readily apparent from the income statement. Also discloses (a) for amortizable intangibles assets in total and by major class, the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization, the total amortization expense for the period, and the estimated aggregate amortization expense for each of the five succeeding fiscal years, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization the carrying amount in total and by major class, and (c) for goodwill, in total and for each reportable segment, the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the period (including the aggregate amount of goodwill acquired, the aggregate amount of impairment losses recognized, and the amount of goodwill included in the gain (loss) on disposal of a reporting unit). If any part of goodwill has not been allocated to a reportable segment, discloses the unallocated amount and the reasons for not allocating. For each impairment loss recognized related to an intangible asset (excluding goodwill), discloses: (a) a description of the impaired intangible asset and the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method for determining fair value, (c) the caption in the income statement or the statement of activities in which the impairment loss is aggregated, and (d) the segment in which the impaired intangible asset is reported. For each goodwill impairment loss recognized, discloses: (a) a description of the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method of determining the fair value of the associated reporting unit, and (c) if a recognized impairment loss is an estimate not finalized and the reasons why the estimate is not final. May also disclose the nature and amount of any significant adjustments made to a previous estimate of an impairment loss.

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