OTHER COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

12 Months Ended

Feb. 28, 2014

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

OTHER COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

OTHER COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

a. Commitments of our continuing operations

The Company has various commitments under the following types of material contracts for its continuing operations: (i) operating leases; (ii) radio syndicated programming; (iii) employment agreements and (iv) other contracts with annual commitments (mostly contractual services for audience measurement information) at February 28, 2014 as follows:

Year ending February 28 (29),	Operating Leases		Syndicated Programming		Employment Agreements		Other Contracts		Total
2015	$	7,921	$	615	$	12,376	$	2,588	$	23,500
2016	7,420		430		5,519		120		13,489
2017	7,342		235		1,442		123		9,142
2018	6,718		—		653		127		7,498
2019	5,997		—		—		43		6,040
Thereafter	23,147		—		—		—		23,147
Total	$	58,545	$	1,280	$	19,990	$	3,001	$	82,816

Emmis leases certain office space, tower space, equipment and automobiles under operating leases expiring at various dates through July 2027. Some of the lease agreements contain renewal options and annual rental escalation clauses (generally tied to the Consumer Price Index or increases in the lessor’s operating costs), as well as provisions for payment of utilities and maintenance costs. The Company recognizes escalated rents on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease agreement. Rental expense for continuing operations during the years ended February 2012, 2013 and 2014 was approximately $6.8 million, $7.5 million and $8.2 million, respectively. The Company recognized approximately $0.3 million, $0.9 million and $1.0 million of sublease income as a reduction of rent expense for the years ended February 2012, 2013, and 2014 respectively. Total minimum sublease rentals to be received in the future under noncancelable subleases as of February 28, 2014 were as follows:

Year ending February 28 (29),	Noncancelable Sublease rentals1
2015	$	1,262
2016	1,086
2017	1,092
2018	409
2019	—
Total	$	3,849

¹ Includes sublease rentals from YMF in New York City of $0.8 million in fiscal 2015, 2016 and 2017 and $0.2 million in fiscal 2018. These are expected to terminate upon consummation of our pending acquisition of WBLS-FM and WLIB-AM (See Note 8 for more discussion).

b. Litigation

The Company is a party to various legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. In the opinion of management of the Company, there are no legal proceedings pending against the Company likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company.

Emmis and certain of its officers and directors were named as defendants in a lawsuit filed April 16, 2012 by certain holders of Preferred Stock (the “Lock-Up Group”) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana entitled Corre Opportunities Fund, LP, et al. v. Emmis Communications Corporation, et al. The plaintiffs alleged, among other things, that Emmis and the other defendants violated various provisions of the federal securities laws and breached fiduciary duties in connection with Emmis’ entry into total return swap agreements and voting agreements with certain holders of Emmis Preferred Stock, as well as by issuing shares of Preferred Stock to Emmis’ 2012 Retention Plan and Trust (the “Trust”) and entering into a voting agreement with the trustee of the Trust. The plaintiffs also alleged that Emmis violated certain provisions of Indiana corporate law by directing the voting of the shares of Preferred Stock subject to the total return swap agreements (the “Swap Shares”) and the shares of Preferred Stock held by the Trust (the “Trust Shares”) in favor of certain amendments to Emmis’ Articles of Incorporation.

Emmis filed an answer denying the material allegations of the complaint, and filed a counterclaim seeking a declaratory judgment that Emmis may legally direct the voting of the Swap Shares and the Trust Shares in favor of the proposed amendments.

On August 31, 2012, the U.S. District Court denied the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction. Plaintiffs subsequently filed an amended complaint seeking monetary damages and dismissing all claims against the individual officer and director defendants. On February 28, 2014, the U.S. District Court issued a ruling in favor of Emmis on all counts. In March 2014, the Plaintiffs filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit an appeal of the U.S. District Court's decision. Emmis is defending this lawsuit vigorously.

Certain individuals and groups have challenged applications for renewal of the FCC licenses of certain of the Company’s stations. The challenges to the license renewal applications are currently pending before the FCC. Emmis does not expect the challenges to result in the denial of any license renewals.