Note 13 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Notes to Financial Statements

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Text Block]

13. Goodwill and Intangible Assets

During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, we acquired, adjusted and disposed of various television broadcast stations and broadcast licenses. As a result of these transactions, our goodwill and intangible balances changed during each of these years. See Note 3 “Acquisitions and Divestitures” 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, 2019 and 2018 is as follows (in millions):

	Net Balance at		Acquisitions							Net Balance at
	December 31,		And							December 31,
	2018		Adjustments		Impairment		Amortization			2019
Goodwill	$	612	$	834	$	-	$	-		$	1,446
Broadcast licenses		1,530	$	2,043		-		-			3,573
Finite-lived intangible assets		53		522		-		(115	)		460
Total intangible assets net of accumulated amortization	$	2,195	$	3,399	$	-	$	(115	)	$	5,479

	Net Balance at		Acquisitions								Net Balance at
	December 31,		And								December 31,
	2017		Adjustments			Impairment		Amortization			2018
Goodwill	$	611	$	1		$	-	$	-		$	612
Broadcast licenses		1,531	$	(1	)		-		-			1,530
Finite-lived intangible assets		74		-			-		(21	)		53
Total intangible assets net of accumulated amortization	$	2,216	$	-		$	-	$	(21	)	$	2,195

A summary of changes in our goodwill, on a gross basis, for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 is as follows (in millions):

				Acquisitions
	As of			And				As of
	December 31, 2018			Adjustments		Impairment		December 31, 2019
Goodwill, gross	$	711		$	834	$	-	$	1,545
Accumulated goodwill impairment		(99	)		-		-		(99	)
Goodwill, net	$	612		$	834	$	-	$	1,446

				Acquisitions
	As of			And				As of
	December 31, 2017			Adjustments		Impairment		December 31, 2018
Goodwill, gross	$	710		$	1	$	-	$	711
Accumulated goodwill impairment		(99	)		-		-		(99	)
Goodwill, net	$	611		$	1	$	-	$	612

As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, our intangible assets and related accumulated amortization consisted of the following (in millions):

	As of December 31, 2019							As of December 31, 2018
			Accumulated							Accumulated
	Gross		Amortization			Net		Gross		Amortization			Net
Intangible assets not currently subject to amortization:
Broadcast licenses	$	3,627	$	(54	)	$	3,573	$	1,583	$	(53	)	$	1,530
Goodwill		1,446		-			1,446		612		-			612
	$	5,073	$	(54	)	$	5,019	$	2,195	$	(53	)	$	2,142
Intangible assets subject to amortization:
Network affiliation agreements	$	56	$	(17	)	$	39	$	6	$	(6	)	$	-
Other finite-lived intangible assets		615		(194	)		421		143		(90	)		53
	$	671	$	(211	)	$	460	$	149	$	(96	)	$	53
Total intangibles	$	5,744	$	(265	)	$	5,479	$	2,344	$	(149	)	$	2,195

Amortization expense for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 was approximately $115 million, $21 million and $25 million, respectively. Based on our intangible assets subject to amortization as of December 31, 2019, we expect that amortization expense for the succeeding five years will be as follows: 2020, $103 million; 2021, $98 million; 2022, $94 million; 2023, $88 million; and 2024, $24 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, 2019 and 2018, 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 2019, 2018 or 2017.

Completion of FCC Spectrum Auction. On August 7, 2017, we received approximately $91 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 approximately $13 million. The income tax obligations related to this gain have been deferred on a long-term basis.

See Note 1 “Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” for further discussion of our accounting policies regarding goodwill, broadcast licenses and other intangible assets.