NOTE 1: BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Presentation—All references to Tribune Media Company or Tribune Company in the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements encompass the historical operations of Tribune Media Company and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”).

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial reporting. The year-end condensed balance sheet data was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by U.S. GAAP. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K.

In the opinion of management, the financial statements contain all adjustments necessary to state fairly the financial position of the Company as of September 30, 2018 and the results of operations and cash flows for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and September 30, 2017. All adjustments reflected in the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, which management believes necessary to state fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows, have been reflected and are of a normal recurring nature. Results of operations for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year.

On January 31, 2017, the Company completed the Gracenote Sale (as defined below). The historical results of operations for the businesses included in the Gracenote Sale are presented in discontinued operations for all periods presented (see Note 2). Unless indicated otherwise, the information in the notes to the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements relates to the Company’s continuing operations.

Termination of Sinclair Merger Agreement—On May 8, 2017, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (“Sinclair”), providing for the acquisition by Sinclair of all of the outstanding shares of the Company’s Class A common stock (“Class A Common Stock”) and Class B common stock (“Class B Common Stock” and, together with the Class A Common Stock, the “Common Stock”) by means of a merger of a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinclair, with and into the Company (the “Merger”), with Tribune Media Company surviving the Merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinclair. The consummation of the Merger was subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain important conditions, including, among others the receipt of approval from the Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) and the expiration or termination of the waiting period applicable to the Merger under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the “HSR Act”). Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, the Company had the right to terminate the Merger Agreement if Sinclair failed to perform in all material respects its covenants, and such failure was not cured by the end date of August 8, 2018. Additionally, either party could terminate the Merger Agreement if the Merger was not consummated on or before August 8, 2018 (and the failure for the Merger to have been consummated by such date was not primarily due to a breach of the Merger Agreement by the party terminating the Merger Agreement). On August 9, 2018, the Company provided notification to Sinclair that it had terminated the Merger Agreement, effective immediately, on the basis of Sinclair’s willful and material breaches of its covenants and the expiration of the end date thereunder. Additionally, on August 9, 2018, the Company filed a complaint in the Delaware Court of Chancery against Sinclair (the “Complaint”), alleging that Sinclair willfully and materially breached its obligations under the Merger Agreement to use its reasonable best efforts to promptly obtain regulatory approval of the Merger so as to enable the Merger to close as soon as reasonably practicable. The lawsuit seeks damages for all losses incurred as a result of Sinclair’s breach of contract under the Merger Agreement. On August 29, 2018, Sinclair filed an answer to the Company’s Complaint and a counterclaim (the “Counterclaim”). The Counterclaim alleges that the Company materially and willfully breached the Merger Agreement by failing to use reasonable best efforts to obtain regulatory approval of the Merger. On September 18, 2018, the Company filed an answer to the Counterclaim. The Company believes the Counterclaim is without merit and intends to defend it vigorously.

See Note 1 to the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 included in the Company’s Form 10-Q filed on August 9, 2018 for additional information regarding the Merger and the Merger Agreement.

On May 8, 2018, the Company, Sinclair Television Group, Inc. (“Sinclair Television”) and Fox Television Stations, LLC (“Fox”) entered into an asset purchase agreement (the “Fox Purchase Agreement”) to sell the assets of seven network affiliates of the Company for $910 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments. The network affiliates subject to the Fox Purchase Agreement were: KCPQ (Tacoma, WA); KDVR (Denver, CO); KSTU (Salt Lake City, UT); KSWB-TV (San Diego, CA); KTXL (Sacramento, CA); WJW (Cleveland, OH); and WSFL-TV (Miami, FL). The closing of the sale pursuant to the Fox Purchase Agreement (the “Closing”) was subject to approval of the FCC and clearance under the HSR Act, as well as the satisfaction or waiver of all conditions of the consummation of the Merger, which was scheduled to occur immediately following the Closing. In connection with the termination of the Merger Agreement on August 9, 2018, the Company provided notification to Fox that it has terminated the Fox Purchase Agreement, effective immediately. Under the terms of each of the Merger Agreement and the Fox Purchase Agreement, no termination fees were payable by any party.

Change in Accounting Principles—In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standard Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (“Topic 606”). The amendments in ASU 2014-09 created Topic 606 and superseded the revenue recognition requirements in Topic 605, “Revenue Recognition.” The Company adopted the new revenue guidance in the first quarter of 2018 using the modified retrospective transition method applied to those contracts which were not completed as of December 31, 2017. Results for reporting periods prior to adoption continue to be presented in accordance with the Company’s historic accounting under Topic 605.

The only identified impact to the Company’s financial statements relates to barter revenue and expense as well as barter-related broadcast rights and contracts payable for broadcast rights, which are no longer recognized. On January 1, 2018, the Company recorded an adjustment to remove the offsetting barter-related broadcast rights and contracts payable for broadcast rights. If accounted for under Topic 605, barter revenue and expense would have been $7 million and $21 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, respectively, and barter-related broadcast rights and contracts payable for broadcast rights would have been $51 million as of September 30, 2018. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, barter revenue was $7 million and $21 million, respectively. Barter-related broadcast rights and contracts payable for broadcast rights were each $45 million as of December 31, 2017. Other than the impact to the accounting for barter arrangements described above, the adoption of Topic 606 did not impact the timing and amount of revenue recognized. See the Revenue Recognition accounting policy below for additional information.

In March 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-05, “Income Taxes (Topic 740)” which was effective in the first quarter of 2018. The standard provides guidance for situations where the accounting under Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 740 is incomplete for certain income tax effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Reform”) upon issuance of an entity’s financial statements for the reporting period in which Tax Reform was enacted. Any provisional amounts or adjustments to provisional amounts as a result of obtaining, preparing or analyzing additional information about facts and circumstances related to the provisional amounts should be included in income (loss) from continuing operations as an adjustment to income tax expense in the reporting period the amounts are determined. As discussed in Note 9, the Company notes that adjustments may be made to the provision upon issuances of clarifications to existing law or additional technical guidance from the Department of Treasury and the completion of the Company’s tax return filings. As adjustments are made to the provisional amount, the Company will record the adjustment to income tax expense in the period the adjustment is determined.

In March 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-07, “Compensation - Retirement Benefits (Topic 715).” Under the new guidance, employers are required to present the service cost component of net periodic benefit cost in the same statement of operations caption as other employee compensation costs arising from services rendered during the period. Employers are required to present the other components of the net periodic benefit cost separately from the caption that includes the service costs and outside of any subtotal of operating profit and are required to disclose the caption used to present the other components of net periodic benefit cost, if not presented separately on the statement of operations. The Company retrospectively adopted ASU 2017-07 effective in the first quarter of 2018. The adoption of this standard did not have an effect on the Company’s historically reported net income (loss) but resulted in a presentation reclassification which reduced the Company’s historically reported operating profit by $6 million and $17 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively, and $23 million for the full year 2017.

In February 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-05, “Other Income - Gains and Losses from the Derecognition of Nonfinancial Assets (Subtopic 610-20).” As a result of the new guidance, the guidance specific to real estate sales in ASC 360-20 is eliminated. Instead, sales and partial sales of real estate are subject to the same recognition model as all other nonfinancial assets. The Company adopted ASU 2017-05 in the first quarter of 2018 using a modified retrospective transition method. The adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-18, “Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230).” The standard requires restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents to be included with cash and cash equivalents when reconciling the beginning-of-period and end-of-period total amounts shown on the statement of cash flows. The standard also requires additional disclosures related to a reconciliation of the balance sheet line items related to cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents to the statement of cash flows. The Company retrospectively adopted ASU 2016-18 in the first quarter of 2018. The Company’s restricted cash and cash equivalents totaled $18 million at both December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016. The adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-15, “Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230).” The cash flow issues addressed include debt prepayment or extinguishment costs, settlement of debt instruments with coupon rates that are insignificant in relation to the effective interest rate of the borrowing, contingent consideration payments made after a business combination, distributions received from equity method investees and cash receipts and payments that may have aspects of more than one class of cash flows. The Company retrospectively adopted ASU 2016-15 in the first quarter of 2018. The adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-01, “Financial Instruments - Overall (Subtopic 825-10).” The new guidance requires entities to measure equity investments (except those accounted for under the equity method of accounting or those that result in consolidation of the investee) at fair value, with changes in fair value recognized in net income, and requires entities to use the exit price notion when measuring the fair value of financial instruments for disclosure purposes. Certain entities are able to elect to record equity investments without readily determinable fair values at cost, less impairment, and plus or minus subsequent adjustments for observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or a similar investment of the same issuer. Entities that elect this measurement alternative must report changes in the carrying value of these investments in current earnings. On February 28, 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-03, “Technical Corrections and Improvements to Financial Instruments - Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities,” which made targeted improvements to address certain aspects of recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of financial instruments, including clarifying certain aspects of the guidance issued in ASU 2016-01. The Company adopted ASU 2016-01 in the first quarter of 2018 using a modified retrospective transition method. Pursuant to ASU 2018-03, the Company utilized the prospective transition approach for all equity securities without a readily determinable fair value for instances in which the Company elected to apply the measurement alternative, as further discussed in Note 5. The adoption of these standards did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements as the Company’s equity investments under the scope of this ASU do not have readily determinable fair values because they are not publicly traded companies and do not have an active market for their securities or membership interests.

No other significant accounting policies and estimates have changed from those detailed in Note 1 to the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.

Use of Estimates—The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

Revenue Recognition—The Company recognizes revenues when control of the promised goods or services is transferred to the Company’s customers in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services.

The following table represents the Company’s revenues disaggregated by revenue source for the Television and Entertainment segment (in thousands):



	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30, 2018		September 30, 2017 (1)		September 30, 2018		September 30, 2017 (1)
Advertising	$	327,248	$	295,130	$	909,118	$	899,701
Retransmission revenues	116,625		104,587		351,952		303,800
Carriage fees	40,069		30,930		122,546		96,407
Barter/trade (2)	2,660		9,559		7,142		28,052
Other	8,017		7,101		30,980		21,441
Total operating revenues	$	494,619	$	447,307	$	1,421,738	$	1,349,401


(1)	Prior period amounts have not been adjusted under the modified retrospective method.


(2)	For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, barter revenue totaled $7 million and $21 million, respectively.

In addition to the operating revenues included in the Television and Entertainment segment, the Company’s consolidated operating revenues include other revenue of $3 million for each of the three months ended September 30, 2018 and September 30, 2017 and $9 million and $11 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and September 30, 2017, respectively, in Corporate and Other which consists of real estate revenues.

Advertising Revenues—The Company generates revenue by delivering advertising on the Company’s broadcast television, cable, radio and digital platforms. Certain of the Company’s advertising contracts have guarantees whereby the customer is guaranteed a certain level of audience viewership referred to as impressions. Contracts are typically fixed price, short term in nature and revenue is recognized over time as the advertisements are aired or the impressions are delivered. If the guaranteed impressions are not achieved through the airing of the initially agreed upon advertisements, the Company will continue to air advertisements for the customer until the guaranteed impressions are achieved. For these advertising contracts with guaranteed impressions, the Company recognizes revenue based on the proportion of the cumulative impressions achieved for the advertisements delivered in relation to the total guaranteed impressions. Under the advertising contracts, the Company is entitled to payment as advertisements are aired, and the time between invoice and payment is not significant. The Company also trades advertising for products or services. Revenue recognized under trade arrangements is valued at the estimated fair value of the products or services received and recognized as the related advertisements are aired. The Company utilizes the practical expedients provided in the guidance and does not disclose the value of unsatisfied performance obligations for advertising contracts with an original expected duration of one year or less and for contracts for which the Company recognizes revenue at the amounts to which the Company has the right to invoice for services performed.

Retransmission Revenues and Carriage Fees—The Company enters into agreements with multichannel video programming distributors (“MVPDs”) which allow the MVPDs to retransmit the Company’s television stations’ broadcast programming and/or carry the Company’s cable channel. Typically, the agreements are multi-year and generally consist of a fixed price per subscriber as well as contractually agreed annual increases. The agreements are considered functional licenses of intellectual property resulting in the Company recognizing revenue at the point-in-time the broadcast signal is delivered to the MVPDs. The typical time between the Company’s performance and customer payment is not significant. As the agreements with MVPDs are considered licenses of intellectual property, the Company applies the sales/usage based royalty exception in ASC 606 and does not disclose the value of unsatisfied performance obligations for the agreements.

Deferred Revenues—The Company records deferred revenue when cash payments are received or due in advance of the Company’s performance. For advertising, the performance primarily involves the delivery of advertisements and/or impressions to the Company’s customers. For the spectrum sharing arrangements where the Company is acting as the host, the upfront payments received from the Company’s channel-sharing customers in 2017 have been deferred and are being recognized over a 30-year term.

Contract Costs—In accordance with Topic 606, incremental costs to obtain a contract are capitalized and amortized over the contract term if the cost are expected to be recoverable. The Company does not capitalize incremental costs to obtain a contract where the contract duration is expected to be one year or less. As of September 30, 2018, the Company does not have any costs capitalized.

Arrangements with Multiple Performance Obligations—The Company’s contracts with customers may include multiple performance obligations. For such arrangements, the Company allocates revenue to each performance obligation based on its relative standalone selling price, which is generally determined based on the price charged to customers.

Dreamcatcher—Dreamcatcher Broadcasting LLC (“Dreamcatcher”) was formed in 2013 specifically to comply with the cross-ownership rules of the FCC related to the Company’s acquisition of Local TV, LLC on December 27, 2013 (the “Local TV Acquisition”). See Note 1 to the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 for additional information. The Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements as of and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and September 30, 2017 include the results of operations and the financial position of Dreamcatcher, a fully-consolidated variable interest entity (“VIE”). Net revenues of the Dreamcatcher stations (WTKR-TV, Norfolk, VA, WGNT-TV, Portsmouth, VA and WNEP-TV, Scranton, PA) included in the Company’s unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and September 30, 2017 were $20 million and $17 million, respectively, and for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and September 30, 2017, were $57 million and $52 million, respectively. Operating profits of the Dreamcatcher stations included in the Company’s unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and September 30, 2017 were $4 million and $3 million, respectively, and for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and September 30, 2017 were $12 million and $8 million, respectively. In 2017, Dreamcatcher received pretax proceeds from the counterparty in a spectrum sharing arrangement of approximately $26 million as one of the Dreamcatcher stations will act as a host station. The payments have been recorded as deferred revenue and began amortizing to the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations upon commencement of the sharing arrangement in December 2017. See Note 8 for additional information regarding the Company’s participation in the FCC spectrum auction.

The Company’s unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 include the following assets and liabilities of the Dreamcatcher stations (in thousands):



	September 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
Broadcast rights	3,056		2,622
Other intangible assets, net	64,018		71,914
Other assets	7,793		6,852
Total Assets	$	74,867	$	81,388

Contracts payable for broadcast rights	2,848		2,691
Long-term deferred revenue	24,380		25,030
Other liabilities	1,333		1,017
Total Liabilities	$	28,561	$	28,738

New Accounting Standards—In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-15, “Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40).” The standard requires a customer in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract to follow the internal-use software guidance to determine which implementation costs to capitalize as an asset related to the service contract. The standard also requires a customer to expense the capitalized implementation costs over the term of the hosting arrangement and specifies presentation requirements for both the capitalized costs and the amortized expenses. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, and the interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted. The amendments in ASU 2018-15 should be applied either retrospectively or prospectively to all implementation costs incurred after the date of adoption. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting ASU 2018-15 on its consolidated financial statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-14, “Compensation - Retirement Benefits - Defined Benefit Plans - General (Subtopic 715-20).” The standard modifies certain disclosure requirements for employers that sponsor defined benefit pension and other postretirement benefit plans by removing disclosures that are no longer considered cost beneficial, clarifying specific requirements of disclosures, and adding disclosure requirements identified as relevant. The standard is effective for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2020. Early adoption is permitted. The amendments in ASU 2018-14 should be applied retrospectively to each period presented. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting ASU 2018-14 on its consolidated financial statements.

In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-02, “Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220).” The standard allows entities, at their option, to reclassify from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (“AOCI”) to retained earnings stranded tax effects resulting from Tax Reform. See Note 9 for further details regarding Tax Reform. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, and the interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted. The amendments in ASU 2018-02 should be applied either in the period of adoption or retrospectively to each period (or periods) in which the effect of the new federal corporate income tax rate is recognized. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting ASU 2018-02 on its consolidated financial statements.

In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815).” The standard simplifies the application of the hedge accounting guidance and enables entities to better portray the economic results of their risk management activities in the financial statements. The new guidance eliminates the requirement and the ability to separately record ineffectiveness on cash flow and net investment hedges and generally requires the entire change in the fair value of a hedging instrument to be presented in the same income statement line as the hedged item. The standard requires certain additional disclosures that focus on the effect of hedge accounting whereas the disclosure of hedge ineffectiveness is eliminated. The amendments expand the types of permissible hedging strategies. Additionally, the amendment makes the hedge documentation and effectiveness assessment less complex. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, and the interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted. The amendments in ASU 2017-12 related to cash flow hedge relationships that exist on the date of adoption should be applied using a modified retrospective approach with the cumulative effect of initially applying ASU 2017-12 at the date of initial application. The presentation and disclosure requirements apply prospectively. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting ASU 2017-12 on its consolidated financial statements.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, “Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326).” The standard requires entities to estimate loss of financial assets measured at amortized cost, including trade receivables, debt securities and loans, using an expected credit loss model. The expected credit loss differs from the previous incurred losses model primarily in that the loss recognition threshold of “probable” has been eliminated and that expected loss should consider reasonable and supportable forecasts in addition to the previously considered past events and current conditions. Additionally, the guidance requires additional disclosures related to the further disaggregation of information related to the credit quality of financial assets by year of the asset’s origination for as many as five years. Entities must apply the standard provision as a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the beginning of the first reporting period in which the guidance is effective. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting ASU 2016-13 on its consolidated financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases (Subtopic 842).” The new guidance requires lessees to recognize assets and liabilities arising from leases as well as quantitative and qualitative disclosures. A lessee will need to recognize on its balance sheet a right-of-use asset and a lease liability for the majority of its leases (other than leases with a term of less than twelve months). The lease liabilities will be equal to the present value of lease payments. The right-of-use asset will be measured at the lease liability amount, adjusted for lease prepayment, lease incentives received and the lessee’s initial direct costs. In January 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-01, “Leases (Topic 842) - Land Easement Practical Expedient for Transition to Topic 842,” which provides an optional transition practical expedient to not evaluate under Topic 842 existing or expired land easements that were not previously accounted for as leases under the current leases guidance in Topic 840. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-10, “Codification Improvements to Topic 842, Leases,” and ASU No. 2018-11, “Leases (Topic 842), Targeted Improvements,” which affect certain aspects of the previously issued guidance including an additional transition method as well as a new practical expedient for lessors. These related standards are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted. The Company will adopt Topic 842 in the first quarter of 2019 utilizing the optional transition method provided in ASU No. 2018-11, which allows for a prospective adoption with a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance sheet as of the adoption date. The Company continues to evaluate the impact of the adoption of the new standard on its consolidated balance sheet; however, the Company does not expect the adoption to have a material impact on the consolidated statements of operations, consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss), consolidated statement of shareholders’ equity or consolidated statements of cash flows. The Company continues to review the lease portfolio and is in the process of implementing new lease accounting software to assist in the accounting and disclosure requirements associated with the new standard.