Note 2 - Revenue

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Notes to Financial Statements

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Text Block]

2. Revenue

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 sheet.

Deferred Revenue. We record a deferred revenue for cash deposits received from our customers that are to be applied as payment once the performance obligation arises and is satisfied. These deposits are recorded as deferred revenue on our balance sheet as advertising deposit liabilities. 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 sheet. We generally require amounts payable under advertising contracts with our political advertising customers to be paid for in advance. We record the receipt of this cash as an advertising deposit liability. Once the advertisement has been broadcast, the revenue is earned, and we record the revenue and reduce the balance in this deposit liability account. We recorded $13 million of revenue in the three-months ended March 31, 2024 that was included in the advertising deposit liability balance as of December 31, 2023. We also record other deposit liabilities for cash received in advance for other arrangements, for which revenue is as earned in future periods.

The following table presents our deferred revenue by type (in millions):

	March 31,		December 31,
	2024		2023
Advertising deposit liabilities	$	12	$	13
Other deposit liabilities		10		10
Total deferred revenue	$	22	$	23

Disaggregation of Revenue. Revenue from our production companies segment is generated through our direct sales channel. Revenue from our broadcast and other segment is generated through both our direct and advertising agency intermediary sales channels. The following table presents our revenue from contracts with customers disaggregated by type of service and sales channel (in millions):

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2024		2023
Market and service type:
Broadcast advertising:
Core advertising	$	372	$	357
Political		27		8
Total advertising		399		365
Retransmission consent		381		395
Production companies		24		22
Other		19		19
Total revenue	$	823	$	801
Sales Channel:
Direct	$	556	$	558
Advertising agency intermediary		267		243
Total revenue	$	823	$	801