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Supplemental Disclosures
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011
Supplemental Disclosures 
Supplemental Disclosures

NOTE 4 — SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURES

Divestiture Trusts

The Company owns certain radio stations which, under current FCC rules, are not permitted or transferable. These radio stations were placed in a trust in order to comply with FCC rules at the time of the closing of the merger that resulted in the Company's acquisition of Clear Channel. The Company is the beneficial owner of the trust, but the radio stations are managed by an independent trustee. The Company will have to divest all of these radio stations unless any stations may be owned by the Company under then-current FCC rules, in which case the trust will be terminated with respect to such stations. The trust agreement stipulates that the Company must fund any operating shortfalls of the trust activities, and any excess cash flow generated by the trust is distributed to the Company. The Company is also the beneficiary of proceeds from the sale of stations held in the trust. The Company consolidates the trust in accordance with ASC 810-10, which requires an enterprise involved with variable interest entities to perform an analysis to determine whether the enterprise's variable interest or interests give it a controlling financial interest in the variable interest entity, as the trust was determined to be a variable interest entity and the Company is its primary beneficiary. During the nine months ended September 30, 2011, the Company's Radio segment sold stations from the trust and recorded a gain of $4.9 million included in "Other operating income – net."

 

Income Tax Benefit

The Company's income tax benefit for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively, consisted of the following components:

 

(In thousands)    Three Months Ended
September 30,
     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2011      2010      2011      2010  

Current tax expense

    $             (11,326)         $           (14,663)         $ (376)         $       (41,307)      

Deferred tax benefit

     31,991           35,078           122,886           170,886       
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Income tax benefit

    $ 20,665          $ 20,415          $       122,510          $ 129,579       
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

The effective tax rate for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 was 23.5% and 34.1%, respectively. The effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2011 was primarily impacted by increases in tax expense attributable to the write-off of deferred tax assets in excess of the tax benefits realized upon the vesting of certain equity awards, an increase in unrecognized tax benefits and the Company's inability to record the benefit of losses in certain foreign jurisdictions.

The effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 was primarily impacted by the Company's settlement of U.S. Federal and state tax examinations during the period. Pursuant to the settlements, the Company recorded a reduction to income tax expense of approximately $10.6 million to reflect the net tax benefits of the settlements. In addition, the effective rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 was impacted by the Company's ability to benefit from certain tax loss carryforwards in foreign jurisdictions due to increased taxable income during 2011, where the losses previously did not provide a benefit. The effects of these items were partially offset by the items mentioned above related to the three months ended September 30, 2011.

The Company's effective tax rate for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2010 was 11.9% and 24.1%, respectively. The 2010 effective rates were impacted primarily as a result of the Company's inability to benefit from tax losses in certain foreign jurisdictions due to the uncertainty of the ability to utilize those losses in future years. In addition, during the three months ended September 30, 2010, the Company recorded a valuation allowance of $13.4 million against deferred tax assets in foreign jurisdictions due to the uncertainty of the ability to realize those assets in future periods.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, cash paid for interest and income taxes, net of U.S. Federal income tax refunds of $132.3 million in 2010, was as follows:

 

(In thousands)    Nine Months Ended September 30,  
     2011      2010  

Interest

       $   1,028,973                 $    969,525          

Income taxes

     77,548               (113,840)