Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Benefit (Expense)

Income tax benefit (expense) consists of:



	Years ended December 31,
	2019			2018		2017
	amounts in thousands
Current:
Federal	$	(30	)	606		—
State and local	(23		)	(24	)	—
	(53		)	582		—
Deferred:
Federal	(579,378		)	192,050		160,150
State and local	(202,183		)	(7,757	)	(26,628	)
	(781,561		)	184,293		133,522
Income tax benefit (expense)	$	(781,614	)	184,875		133,522

Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation

Income tax benefit (expense) differs from the amounts computed by applying the U.S. federal income tax rate of 21% for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 and 35% for the year ended December 31, 2017 as a result of the following:



	Years ended December 31,
	2019			2018		2017
	amounts in thousands
Computed expected tax benefit (expense)	$	(623,138	)	231,579		(206,862	)
State and local income taxes, net of federal income taxes	(169,732		)	74,426		(17,001	)
Executive compensation	(2,437		)	(7,114	)	—
Change in state tax rate due to acquisition	—			(117,496	)	—
Change in state tax rate	10,029			37,108		—
Change in tax rate due to Tax Act	—			—		347,979
Deductible stock compensation	3,394			(131	)	14,116
Goodwill impairment	—			(30,960	)	—
Change in valuation allowance affecting tax expense	(40		)	(189	)	(384	)
Other, net	310			(2,348	)	(4,326	)
Income tax benefit (expense)	$	(781,614	)	184,875		133,522

Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of the deferred income tax assets and deferred income tax liabilities are presented below:



	December 31,
	2019			2018
	amounts in thousands
Deferred tax assets:
Loss and capital carryforwards	$	168,450		150,011
Deferred revenue	20,026			23,716
Accrued stock compensation	3,889			3,598
Debt	6,448			13,948
Operating lease liability	33,656			—
Other accrued liabilities	9,578			—
Other future deductible amounts	35,489			39,298
Deferred tax assets	277,536			230,571
Valuation allowance	(1,366		)	(1,326	)
Net deferred tax assets	276,170			229,245
Deferred tax liabilities
Investments	1,439,140			573,016
Fixed assets	209,094			232,899
Intangible assets	171,950			215,394
Operating lease ROU assets	34,629			—
Deferred tax liabilities	1,854,813			1,021,309
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	1,578,643		792,064