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Revenue Recognition
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]  
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Text Block]

NOTE 5. REVENUE RECOGNITION

Revenue Categories
The following tables set forth reported revenue by category:
For the three months ended March 31, 2019
Service Revenues
WirelessAdvanced DataLegacy Voice & DataSubscriptionContentAdvertisingOtherEquipmentTotal
Communications
Mobility $ 13,725 $ - $ - $ - $ - $ 67 $ - $ 3,775 $ 17,567
Entertainment Group-2,0706837,724-350501-11,328
Business Wireline-3,1862,404---7491596,498
WarnerMedia
Turner---1,9651351,26182-3,443
Home Box Office---1,334173-3-1,510
Warner Bros.---213,33210155-3,518
Eliminations and Other---49(152)83-(92)
Latin America
Vrio---1,067----1,067
Mexico442------209651
Xandr-----426--426
Corporate and Other------167-167
Eliminations and consolidations----(837)(350)(69)-(1,256)
Total Operating Revenues $ 14,167 $ 5,256 $ 3,087 $ 12,160 $ 2,651 $ 1,772 $ 1,591 $ 4,143 $ 44,827

For the three months ended March 31, 2018
Service Revenues
WirelessAdvanced DataLegacy Voice & DataSubscriptionContentAdvertisingOtherEquipmentTotal
Communications
Mobility $ 13,362 $ - $ - $ - $ - $ 41 $ - $ 3,952 $ 17,355
Entertainment Group-1,8788067,891-334519311,431
Business Wireline-3,0432,865---6691706,747
WarnerMedia
Turner---98-14--112
Home Box Office---------
Warner Bros.---------
Eliminations and Other---------
Latin America
Vrio---1,354----1,354
Mexico404------267671
Xandr-----337--337
Corporate and Other------333-333
Eliminations and consolidations-----(334)32-(302)
Total Operating Revenues $ 13,766 $ 4,921 $ 3,671 $ 9,343 $ - $ 392 $ 1,553 $ 4,392 $ 38,038

Deferred Customer Contract Acquisition and Fulfillment Costs

Costs to acquire customer contracts, including commissions on service activations, for our wireless, business wireline and video entertainment services, are deferred and amortized over the contract period or expected customer relationship life, which typically ranges from two to five years. Costs to fulfill customer contracts are deferred and amortized over periods ranging generally from four to five years, reflecting the estimated economic lives of the respective customer relationships, subject to an assessment of the recoverability of such costs. For contracts with an estimated amortization period of less than one year, we expense incremental costs immediately.

Our deferred customer contract acquisition costs and deferred customer contract fulfillment costs balances were $4,297 and $11,592 as of March 31, 2019, respectively, of which $2,143 and $4,214 were included in Other current assets on our consolidated balance sheets. For the three months ended March 31, 2019, we amortized $547 and $1,098 of these costs, respectively.

Our deferred customer contract acquisition costs and deferred customer contract fulfillment costs balances were $3,974 and $11,540 as of December 31, 2018, respectively, of which $1,901 and $4,090 were included in Other current assets on our consolidated balance sheets. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, we amortized $263 and $1,047 of these costs, respectively.

Contract Assets and Liabilities

A contract asset is recorded when revenue is recognized in advance of our right to bill and receive consideration (i.e., we must perform additional services or satisfy another performance obligation in order to bill and receive consideration). The contract asset will decrease as services are provided and billed. When consideration is received in advance of the delivery of goods or services, a contract liability is recorded. Reductions in the contract liability will be recorded as we satisfy the performance obligations.

The following table presents contract assets and liabilities at March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018:

March 31,December 31,
20192018
Contract asset$2,198$1,896
Contract liability6,8996,856

Our beginning of period contract liability recorded as customer contract revenue during 2019 was $4,379.

Our consolidated balance sheets at March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018 included approximately $1,462 and $1,244, respectively, for the current portion of our contract asset in “Other current assets” and $5,715 and $5,752, respectively, for the current portion of our contract liability in “Advanced billings and customer deposits.”

Remaining Performance Obligations

Remaining performance obligations represent services we are required to provide to customers under bundled or discounted arrangements, which are satisfied as services are provided over the contract term. In determining the transaction price allocated, we do not include non-recurring charges and estimates for usage, nor do we consider arrangements with an original expected duration of less than one year, which are primarily prepaid wireless, video and residential internet agreements.

Remaining performance obligations associated with business contracts reflect recurring charges billed, adjusted to reflect estimates for sales incentives and revenue adjustments. Performance obligations associated with wireless contracts are estimated using a portfolio approach in which we review all relevant promotional activities, calculating the remaining performance obligation using the average service component for the portfolio and the average device price. As of March 31, 2019, the aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to remaining performance obligations was $39,627 of which we expect to recognize approximately 80% by the end of 2020, with the balance recognized thereafter.