Goodwill, Other Intangible Assets And Intangible Liabilities

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Goodwill, Other Intangible Assets and Intangible Liabilities

Goodwill and other intangible assets consisted of the following (in thousands):



	September 30, 2015							December 28, 2014
	Gross Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net Amount		Gross Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net Amount
Other intangible assets subject to amortization (1)
Affiliate relationships (useful life of 16 years)	$	212,000	$	(36,438	)	$	175,562	$	212,000	$	(26,500	)	$	185,500
Advertiser relationships (useful life of 8 years)	168,000		(57,750		)	110,250		168,000		(42,000		)	126,000
Network affiliation agreements (useful lives of 5 to 16 years)	362,000		(81,710		)	280,290		362,000		(50,485		)	311,515
Retransmission consent agreements (useful lives of 7 to 12 years)	830,100		(174,445		)	655,655		830,100		(106,897		)	723,203
Other customer relationships (useful lives of 3 to 16 years)	115,341		(20,529		)	94,812		99,528		(12,632		)	86,896
Content databases (useful lives of 5 to 16 years)	135,307		(20,947		)	114,360		122,400		(13,001		)	109,399
Other technology (useful lives of 4 to 10 years)	47,550		(8,266		)	39,284		41,385		(4,022		)	37,363
Trade names and trademarks (useful lives of 3 to15 years)	14,020		(1,339		)	12,681		9,300		(597		)	8,703
Other (useful lives of 3 to 11 years)	16,402		(4,663		)	11,739		10,770		(2,955		)	7,815
Total	$	1,900,720	$	(406,087	)	1,494,633		$	1,855,483	$	(259,089	)	1,596,394
Other intangible assets not subject to amortization
FCC licenses						786,600							786,600
Trade name						14,800							14,800
Total other intangible assets, net						2,296,033							2,397,794
Goodwill
Television and Entertainment						3,601,300							3,601,300
Digital and Data						343,965							316,836
Total goodwill						3,945,265							3,918,136
Total goodwill and other intangible assets						$	6,241,298						$	6,315,930

The changes in the carrying amounts of intangible assets during the nine months ended September 30, 2015 were as follows (in thousands):



	Television and Entertainment			Digital and Data			Total
Other intangible assets subject to amortization
Balance as of December 28, 2014	$	1,352,867		$	243,527		$	1,596,394
Acquisitions (1)	—			49,100			49,100
Amortization (2)	(125,499		)	(21,543		)	(147,042		)
Balance sheet reclassifications (3)	(331		)	—			(331		)
Foreign currency translation adjustment	—			(3,488		)	(3,488		)
Balance as of September 30, 2015	$	1,227,037		$	267,596		$	1,494,633

Other intangible assets not subject to amortization
Balance at September 30, 2015 and December 28, 2014	$	801,400		$	—		$	801,400

Goodwill
Balance as of December 28, 2014	$	3,601,300		$	316,836		$	3,918,136
Acquisitions	—			30,657			30,657
Foreign currency translation adjustment	—			(3,528		)	(3,528		)
Balance as of September 30, 2015	$	3,601,300		$	343,965		$	3,945,265
Total goodwill and other intangible assets as of September 30, 2015	$	5,629,737		$	611,561		$	6,241,298


(1)	Acquisitions include the purchase of certain intellectual property on July 1, 2015 for $5 million which will be amortized over a three year period. See Note 3 for additional information on other acquisitions.


(2)	Amortization of intangible assets includes $1 million related to lease contract intangible assets and is recorded in direct operating expenses or selling, general and administrative expense, as applicable, in the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations.


(3)	Represents net reclassifications which are reflected as an increase to broadcast rights assets in the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet at September 30, 2015.

The Company's intangible liabilities subject to amortization consisted of the following (in thousands):



	September 30, 2015							December 28, 2014
	Gross Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net Amount		Gross Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net Amount
Intangible liabilities subject to amortization
Broadcast rights intangible liabilities	$	80,440	$	(62,253	)	$	18,187	$	102,373	$	(68,059	)	$	34,314
Lease contract intangible liabilities	209		(136		)	73		209		(98		)	111
Total intangible liabilities subject to amortization	$	80,649	$	(62,389	)	$	18,260	$	102,582	$	(68,157	)	$	34,425

As described in Note 4 to the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 28, 2014, the Company recorded contract intangible liabilities totaling $227 million in connection with the adoption of fresh-start reporting on the Effective Date (as defined in Note 9). Of this amount, approximately $226 million was related to contracts for broadcast rights programming not yet available for broadcast. In addition, the Company recorded $9 million of intangible liabilities related to contracts for broadcast rights programming in connection with the Local TV Acquisition (see Note 5 to the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 28, 2014). These intangible liabilities are reclassified as a reduction of broadcast rights assets in the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet as the programming becomes available for broadcast and subsequently amortized as a reduction of programming expenses in the unaudited condensed consolidated statement of operations in accordance with the Company’s methodology for amortizing the related broadcast rights.

The net changes in the carrying amounts of intangible liabilities during the nine months ended September 30, 2015 were as follows (in thousands):



	Television and Entertainment
Intangible liabilities subject to amortization
Balance as of December 28, 2014	$	34,425
Amortization	(11,896		)
Balance sheet reclassifications (1)	(4,269		)
Balance as of September 30, 2015	$	18,260


(1)	Represents net reclassifications which are reflected as an increase to broadcast rights assets in the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet at September 30, 2015.

Amortization expense relating to amortizable intangible assets, excluding lease contract intangible assets, is expected to be approximately $50 million for the remainder of 2015, $198 million in each of 2016 and 2017, $197 million in 2018, $169 million in 2019 and $161 million in 2020. Net rent expense resulting from the amortization of lease contract intangible assets and liabilities is expected to be $0.3 million for the remainder of 2015 and approximately $1 million for each of the next 5 years. Amortization of broadcast rights contract intangible assets and liabilities is expected to result in a net reduction in broadcast rights expense of approximately $4 million for the remainder of 2015, $13 million in 2016, $2 million in each of 2017 and 2018, $1 million in 2019, and $2 million in 2020, respectively.

- 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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