Revenue

Adoption of New Accounting Standard: ASC Topic

606,

Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

January 1, 2018,

we adopted Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic

606

Revenue from Contracts with Customers, as amended

. We adopted this ASC using the modified retrospective method and as a result, comparative information has

not

been restated and continues to be presented as prescribed by the accounting standards in effect during the periods presented. This transition method was applied to all open contracts with customers at the time of adoption. The adoption of this ASC did

not

result in a material impact on our current or historical results.

Revenue Recognition.

We recognize revenue when we have completed a specified service and effectively transferred the control of that service to a customer in return for an amount of consideration we expect to be entitled to receive. The amount of revenue recognized is determined by the amount of consideration specified in a contract with our customers. We have elected to exclude taxes assessed by a governmental authority on transactions with our customers from our revenue. Any unremitted balance is included in current liabilities on our balance sheets.

Seasonality and Cyclicality.

Broadcast advertising revenues are generally highest in the

second

and

fourth

quarters each year. This seasonality results partly from increases in consumer advertising in the spring and retail advertising in the period leading up to and including the holiday season. Broadcast advertising revenues are also typically higher in even-numbered years due to increased spending by political candidates, political parties and special interest groups during the “on-year” of the

two

year election cycle. This political spending typically is heaviest during the

fourth

quarter. In addition, the broadcast of Olympic Games by our NBC affiliated stations during even-numbered years generally leads to increased viewership and revenue during those years.

Disaggregation of Revenue.

The following table presents our revenue from contracts with customers disaggregated by type of service and sales channel (in thousands):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2017		2016
Market and service type:
Advertising:
Local	$	442,728	$	451,261	$	403,336
National		114,192		118,817		98,351
Political		155,074		16,498		90,095
Total advertising		711,994		586,576		591,782
Retransmission consent		355,423		276,603		200,879
Other		16,715		19,549		19,804
Total revenue	$	1,084,132	$	882,728	$	812,465

Sales channel:
Direct	$	551,883	$	473,649	$	373,363
Advertising agency intermediary		532,249		409,079		439,102
Total revenue	$	1,084,132	$	882,728	$	812,465

Advertising Revenue.

Broadcast advertising revenue is generated primarily from the broadcast of television advertising time to local, national and political advertisers. Most advertising contracts are short-term, and generally run only for a few weeks. Our performance obligation is satisfied when the advertisement is broadcast or appears on our stations’ websites or mobile applications. Advertising revenue is recognized when the performance obligation is satisfied and then billed to the customer in the period the revenue is recognized. We have an unconditional right to receive payment of the amount billed generally within

days of the invoice date. Payment terms are expressly stated in our standard terms and conditions. The invoiced amount to be received is recorded in accounts receivable on our balance sheets.

We broadcast the customer’s advertisement either preceding or following a television station’s network programming and within local and syndicated programming. Broadcast advertising is sold in time increments and is priced primarily on the basis of a program’s popularity among the specific audience an advertiser desires to reach. In addition, broadcast advertising rates are affected by the number of advertisers competing for the available time, the size and demographic makeup of the market served by the station and the availability of alternative advertising media in the market area. Broadcast advertising rates are generally the highest during the most desirable viewing hours, with corresponding reductions during other hours. The ratings of a local station affiliated with a major network can be affected by ratings of network programming. Internet advertising is placed on our stations’ websites and mobile applications. These advertisements

may

be in the form of banner advertisements, pre-roll advertisements or video and other types of advertisements or sponsorships.

We generate advertising revenue either by the efforts of our direct sales employees or through

third

party advertising agency intermediaries. Third party advertising intermediaries represent the customer and contract with us to deliver broadcast or internet advertising for the customer.

Retransmission Consent Revenue.

We enter into license agreements with cable, satellite, multichannel video programming distributors and digital delivery system (or “OTT”) customers (collectively “MVPD”) that provide them the right to use our broadcast signal for retransmission across the MVPD system for an agreed period of time. These agreements represent a sales and usage based functional intellectual property license based on the number of subscribers to the licensee’s delivery systems. Our performance obligation is to provide the licensee with access to our intellectual property when it is broadcast. The duration of the typical retransmission consent contract is

three

years. Retransmission consent revenue is recognized continuously during the period of the contract as we transmit our broadcast signal to the MVPD. The amount of revenue recognized is determined based upon a fixed rate per subscriber multiplied by the number of active subscribers to our MVPD customer systems for the given month. We bill our MVPD customers monthly over the life of the retransmission consent contract. We have an unconditional right to receive payment of the amount billed generally within

days from the invoice date. Payment terms are expressly stated in our retransmission consent contracts as well as in the standard terms and conditions. The invoiced amount to be received is recorded in accounts receivable on our balance sheets.

Subscriber data necessary to calculate the amount of retransmission consent revenue to be recognized for the current month is

not

received until subsequent to that month. We estimate the current month retransmission consent revenue based upon the subscriber data from the most recent subscriber report by the MVPD. We record the estimate in the current month as retransmission consent revenue and then adjust the amount recorded in that month when we receive the actual subscriber data. We typically have monthly adjustments to our revenue to account for changes in MVPD subscribers on a monthly basis, however, the number of MVPD subscribers does

not

change materially on a monthly basis and this adjustment does

not

materially impact our recorded retransmission consent revenue on a quarterly or annual basis.

Other

Revenues.

Other revenues consist of production, tower rental and other miscellaneous items. Production revenue is derived from the production of programming. Production revenue is recognized as the programming is produced. Tower rental income is recognized monthly over the life of the lease. All of our leases under which we are the lessor are considered operating leases. Other revenue is comprised of

one

-time or infrequently occurring special projects, dubbing, fees and other miscellaneous items. Other revenue is recognized as the services are performed. Other revenue is generated by our direct sales employees.

Accounts Receivable and Deposit Liability.

When we invoice our customers for completed performance obligations, we are unconditionally entitled to receive payment of the invoiced amounts. Therefore, we record invoiced amounts in accounts receivable on our balance sheets. We generally require amounts due to us under advertising contracts with our political advertising and certain other customers to be paid for in advance. We record the receipt of this cash as deposit liabilities. Once the advertisements have been broadcast, the revenues are earned, and we record these revenues and reduce the balance in these deposit liabilities. Our deposit liabilities of

$3.8

million as of

January 1, 2018

have been recognized in revenue in

2018.

We believe that our deposit liabilities of

$3.4

million as of

December 31, 2018

will be recognized as revenue in

2019.

Expedients.

We expense direct and agency commissions when incurred because our advertising contracts are

one

year or less in duration and the amortization period for capitalized expenses would be less than

one

year. Direct commissions are included in broadcast operating expense and agency commissions are netted against gross revenue in our consolidated statements of operations.

The nature of our contracts with advertising customers is such that our performance obligations arise and are satisfied concurrent with the broadcast or web placement of the advertisement. We did

not

have incomplete or unsatisfied performance obligations at the end of any period presented.