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RELATED PERSON TRANSACTIONS
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2015
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
RELATED PERSON TRANSACTIONS
.              RELATED PERSON TRANSACTIONS
 
Transactions with our controlling shareholders
 
David, Frederick, J. Duncan and Robert Smith (collectively, the controlling shareholders) are brothers and hold substantially all of the Class B Common Stock and some of our Class A Common Stock.  We engaged in the following transactions with them and/or entities in which they have substantial interests.
 
Leases.  Certain assets used by us and our operating subsidiaries are leased from Cunningham Communications Inc., Keyser Investment Group, Gerstell Development Limited Partnership and Beaver Dam, LLC (entities owned by the controlling shareholders).  Lease payments made to these entities were $1.2 million and $1.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, and $2.6 million and $2.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
 
Charter Aircraft.  We lease aircraft owned by certain controlling shareholders.  We incurred expenses of $0.3 million for both the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, and $0.6 million for both the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
 
Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation
 
As of June 30, 2015, Cunningham was the owner-operator and FCC licensee of: WNUV-TV Baltimore, Maryland; WRGT-TV Dayton, Ohio; WVAH-TV Charleston, West Virginia; WMYA-TV Anderson, South Carolina; WTTE-TV Columbus, Ohio; WDBB-TV Birmingham, Alabama; WBSF-TV Flint, Michigan; and WGTU-TV/WGTQ-TV Traverse City/Cadillac, Michigan (collectively, the Cunningham Stations), as well as WTAT-TV Charleston, South Carolina, and WYZZ Peoria/Bloomington, IL.
 
During the first quarter of 2013, the estate of Carolyn C. Smith, a mother of our controlling shareholders, distributed all of the non-voting stock owned by the estate to our controlling shareholders, and a portion was repurchased by Cunningham for $1.7 million in the aggregate.  During the second quarter of 2014, Cunningham purchased the remaining amount of non-voting stock from the controlling shareholders for an aggregate purchase price of $2.0 million.  The estate of Mrs. Smith currently owns all of the voting stock.  The sale of the voting stock by the estate to an unrelated party is pending approval of the FCC.  We also had options from the trusts, which granted us the right to acquire, subject to applicable FCC rules and regulations, 100% of the voting and nonvoting stock of Cunningham, up until September 30, 2014, when these options were terminated. As discussed under Variable Interest Entities in Note 1: Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, during the third quarter of 2014, we deconsolidated Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation as we determined it was no longer a VIE.  We continue to consolidate certain of its subsidiaries with which we continue to have variable interests through various arrangements related to the Cunningham Stations discussed further below.
 
As of June 30, 2015, certain of our stations provide programming, sales and managerial services pursuant to LMAs to six of the Cunningham stations: WNUV-TV, WRGT-TV, WVAH-TV, WMYA-TV, WTTE-TV, and WDBB-TV (collectively, the
Cunningham LMA Stations). Each of these LMAs has a current term that expires on July 1, 2016 and there are three additional 5- year renewal terms remaining with final expiration on July 1, 2031. We also executed purchase agreements to acquire the license related assets of these stations from Cunningham, which grant us the right to acquire, and grant Cunningham the right to require us to acquire, subject to applicable FCC rules and regulations, 100% of the capital stock or the assets of these individual subsidiaries of Cunningham.  Our applications to acquire these license related assets are pending FCC approval.  The LMA and purchase agreement with WTAT-TV was terminated concurrent with Cunningham’s purchase of the non-license assets of this station from us for $14.0 millionl effective August 1, 2014.  We no longer have any continuing involvement in the operations of this station.
 
Pursuant to the terms of the LMAs, options and other agreements, beginning on January 1, 2013, we were obligated to pay Cunningham an annual LMA fee for the television stations equal to the greater of (i) 3% of each station’s annual net broadcast revenue and (ii) $5.0 million. The aggregate purchase price of the television stations, which was originally $78.5 million pursuant to certain acquisition or merger agreements subject to 6% annual increases, was decreased by each payment made by us to Cunningham, through 2012, of $29.1 million in the aggregate. Additionally, we reimburse these Cunningham LMA Stations for 100% of their operating costs. In July 2014, concurrent with the termination of the LMA with WTAT-TV, the total LMA fee for the remaining Cunningham LMA Stations was reduced by $4.7 million to remove the fee associated with WTAT-TV.  The remaining aggregate purchase price of these stations, excluding WTAT-TV, as of June 30, 2015 was approximately $53.6 million.
 
We made payments to Cunningham under our LMAs with these stations of $2.1 million for both the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and $4.4 million and $5.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively. For the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, Cunningham LMA Stations provided us with approximately $24.1 million and $29.2 million, respectively, and approximately $45.9 million and $56.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively, of total revenue.
 
Cunningham owns the license related assets of WBSF-TV and WGTU-TV/WGTQ-TV. We provide certain non-programming related sales, operational and administrative services to these stations pursuant to certain outsourcing agreements. The agreements with WBSF-TV and WGTU-TV/WGTQ-TV expire in November 2021 and August 2023, respectively, and each has renewal provisions for successive eight year periods. Additionally, we have provided a guarantee on the bank debt of these licensees of $2.9 million as of June 30, 2015. Under these arrangements, we earned $1.0 million and $1.1 million from the services we performed for these stations for the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and $2.2 million and $1.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively. As we consolidate the licensees as VIEs, the amounts we earn under the arrangements are eliminated in consolidation and the gross revenues of the stations are reported within our consolidated statement of operations. Our consolidated revenues related to these stations include $1.9 million for both the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and $3.7 million and $3.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
 
Atlantic Automotive Corporation
 
We sold advertising time to and purchased vehicles and related vehicle services from Atlantic Automotive Corporation (Atlantic Automotive), a holding company that owns automobile dealerships and an automobile leasing company.  David D. Smith, our President and Chief Executive Officer, has a controlling interest in, and is a member of the Board of Directors of Atlantic Automotive.  We received payments for advertising totaling $0.1 million for both the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, and $0.2 million and $0.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Additionally, in August 2011, Atlantic Automotive entered into an office lease agreement with Towson City Center, LLC (Towson City Center), a subsidiary of one of our real estate ventures. Atlantic Automotive paid $0.3 million in rent during the both three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, and $0.6 million and $0.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
 
Leased property by real estate ventures
 
Certain of our real estate ventures have entered into leases with entities owned by David Smith to lease restaurant space. There are leases for three restaurants in a building owned by one of our consolidated real estate ventures in Baltimore, MD. Total rent received under these leases was $0.2 million and $0.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, and $0.3 million and $0.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively. There is also one lease for a restaurant in a building owned by one of our real estate ventures, accounted for under the equity method, in Towson, MD.  This investment received less than $0.1 million in rent pursuant to the lease for both the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, and $0.1 million for both the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.