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Note 13 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Text Block]

13.

Goodwill and Intangible Assets

During the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, 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.

Several years ago, our Raycom Sports subsidiary sublicensed certain Atlantic Coast Conference (“ACC”) football and basketball games from ESPN to Fox Sports that were assumed by Diamond Sports Group, LLC (“Diamond”) upon its acquisition of Fox Sports. In March 2023, Diamond sought bankruptcy protection. On July 7, 2023, the bankruptcy court granted the request of Diamond (supported by us) for the early rejection, and therefore the termination, of the ACC sports rights agreements. On July 13, 2023, The CW Network (“CW”) announced that it had entered into an agreement with Raycom Sports for a similar package of sports rights related to the ACC games that had been included in the now-terminated agreement with Diamond. Concurrently, Raycom Sports and ESPN modified their license agreement to correspond with the terms of the CW sublicense agreement. The new agreements mitigate a portion of the losses caused by Diamond’s rejection of its ACC sports rights agreement with Raycom Sports. As a result of the bankruptcy filings and these new July 2023 agreements, our production companies segment recorded a non-cash charge of $43 million, for impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets.

The following table presents a summary of changes in our goodwill and other intangible assets, on a net basis (in millions):

	Net Balance at		Acquisitions									Net Balance at
	December 31,		and									December 31,
	2022		Adjustments, Net			Impairment			Amortization			2023
Goodwill	$	2,663	$	(4	)	$	(16	)	$	-		$	2,643
Broadcast licenses		5,331		(11	)		-			-			5,320
Finite-lived intangible assets		636		-			(27	)		(194	)		415
Total intangible assets net of accumulated amortization	$	8,630	$	(15	)	$	(43	)	$	(194	)	$	8,378

	Net Balance at		Acquisitions							Net Balance at
	December 31,		and							December 31,
	2021		Adjustments		Impairment		Amortization			2022
Goodwill	$	2,649	$	14	$	-	$	-		$	2,663
Broadcast licenses		5,303		28		-		-			5,331
Finite-lived intangible assets		825		18		-		(207	)		636
Total intangible assets net of accumulated amortization	$	8,777	$	60	$	-	$	(207	)	$	8,630

The following table presents a summary of changes in our goodwill, on a gross basis (in millions):

	As of			Acquisitions						As of
	December 31,			and						December 31,
	2022			Adjustments			Impairment			2023
Goodwill, gross	$	2,762		$	(4	)	$	(16	)	$	2,742
Accumulated goodwill impairment		(99	)		-			-			(99	)
Goodwill, net	$	2,663		$	(4	)	$	(16	)	$	2,643

	As of			Acquisitions				As of
	December 31,			and				December 31,
	2021			Adjustments		Impairment		2022
Goodwill, gross	$	2,748		$	14	$	-	$	2,762
Accumulated goodwill impairment		(99	)		-		-		(99	)
Goodwill, net	$	2,649		$	14	$	-	$	2,663

The following table presents a summary of our intangible assets and related accumulated amortization (in millions):

	As of December 31, 2023							As of December 31, 2022
			Accumulated							Accumulated
	Gross		Amortization			Net		Gross		Amortization			Net
Intangible assets not currently subject to amortization:
Broadcast licenses	$	5,374	$	(54	)	$	5,320	$	5,385	$	(54	)	$	5,331
Goodwill		2,643		-			2,643		2,663		-			2,663
	$	8,017	$	(54	)	$	7,963	$	8,048	$	(54	)	$	7,994

Intangible assets subject to amortization:
Network affiliation agreements	$	216	$	(126	)	$	90	$	218	$	(88	)	$	130
Other finite-lived intangible assets		992		(667	)		325		1,055		(549	)		506
	$	1,208	$	(793	)	$	415	$	1,273	$	(637	)	$	636

Total intangible assets	$	9,225	$	(847	)	$	8,378	$	9,321	$	(691	)	$	8,630

Based on our intangible assets subject to amortization as of December 31, 2023, we expect that amortization of intangible assets for the succeeding five years will be as follows: 2024, $125 million; 2025, $113 million; 2026, $83 million; 2027, $47 million; and 2028, $13 million. If and when acquisitions and dispositions occur in the future, actual amounts may vary from these estimates.

Impairment of goodwill and broadcast licenses. We evaluate broadcast licenses and goodwill for impairment on an annual basis, or more often when certain triggering events occur. Goodwill is evaluated at the reporting unit level.

Our broadcasting operating segment is comprised of a single reporting unit. Each of the distinct businesses within our production companies operating segment represent a reporting unit. Therefore, we evaluate our goodwill for impairment for five reporting units. One reporting unit for all of our broadcast television operations and four for each of the distinct businesses within our production companies. The Company has considered the requirements as stipulated within ASC 350. Management has identified the applicable assets and liabilities for each of the reporting units in accordance with ASC 350.

In the performance of our annual broadcast license and reporting unit impairment assessments, we have the option of performing a qualitative assessment to determine if it is more likely than not that the respective asset has been impaired. In 2023, we performed a qualitative assessment for 59 of our broadcast licenses and three of our reporting units. In 2022, we performed a qualitative assessment for 57 of our broadcast licenses and three of our reporting units.

As part of this qualitative assessment we evaluate the relative impact of factors that are specific to the reporting units as well as industry, regulatory and macroeconomic factors that could affect the significant inputs used to determine the fair value of the assets. We also consider the significance of the excess fair value over the carrying value reflected in prior quantitative assessments and the changes to the reporting units’ carrying value since the last impairment test.

If we conclude that it is more likely than not that a broadcast license or reporting unit is impaired, or if we elect not to perform the optional qualitative assessment, we perform the quantitative assessment which involves comparing the estimated fair value of the broadcast license or reporting unit to its respective carrying value.

For our annual broadcast licenses impairment test in 2023 and 2022, for those broadcast licenses that we deemed to qualify for qualitative assessment, we concluded that it was more likely than not that all of our broadcast licenses that were evaluated were not impaired based upon our assessments. For the remaining broadcast licenses, we elected to perform a quantitative assessment and concluded that their fair values exceeded their carrying values. To estimate the fair value of our broadcast licenses, we utilize a discounted cash flow model assuming an initial hypothetical start-up operation maturing into an average performing station in a specific television market and giving consideration to other relevant factors such as the technical qualities of the broadcast license and the number of competing broadcast licenses within that market.

For our annual goodwill impairment test in 2023 and 2022, we concluded that it was more likely than not that goodwill was not impaired based upon our qualitative assessments for one of our production company reporting units. We elected to perform a quantitative assessment for our broadcasting and remaining production company reporting units and concluded that their fair values exceeded their carrying values. To estimate the fair value of our reporting units, we utilize a discounted cash flow model supported by a market multiple approach. We believe that a discounted cash flow analysis is the most appropriate methodology to test the recorded value of long-term assets with a demonstrated long-lived/enduring franchise value. We believe the results of the discounted cash flow and market multiple approaches provide reasonable estimates of the fair value of our reporting units because these approaches are based on our actual results and reasonable estimates of future performance, and also take into consideration a number of other factors deemed relevant by us including, but not limited to, expected future market revenue growth, market revenue shares and operating profit margins. We have historically used these approaches in determining the value of our reporting units. We also consider a market multiple approach to corroborate our discounted cash flow analysis. We believe that this methodology is consistent with the approach that a strategic market participant would utilize if they were to value our television stations.

We believe we have made reasonable estimates and utilized appropriate assumptions to evaluate whether the fair values of our broadcast licenses and reporting units were less than their carrying values. If future results are not consistent with our assumptions and estimates, including future events such as a deterioration of market conditions or significant increases in discount rates, we could be exposed to impairment charges in the future. Any resulting impairment loss could have a material adverse impact on our consolidated balance sheets, consolidated statements of operations and consolidated statements of cash flows.

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.