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RELATED PERSON TRANSACTIONS
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018
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 our 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. (an owner of broadcast towers), Keyser Investment Group, Gerstell Development Limited Partnership, and Beaver Dam, LLC (entities owned by the controlling shareholders).  Lease payments made to these entities were $0.9 million and $1.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $3.6 million and $3.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively.
 
Charter Aircraft.  We lease aircraft owned by certain controlling shareholders. For all aircraft leases, we incurred expenses of $0.5 million and $0.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $1.3 million for both the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017.

Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation
 
Cunningham owns a portfolio of television stations, including: 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; WGTU-TV/WGTQ-TV Traverse City/Cadillac, Michigan; WEMT-TV Tri-Cities, Tennessee; WYDO-TV Greenville, North Carolina; KBVU-TV/KCVU-TV Eureka/Chico-Redding, California; WPFO-TV Portland, Maine; and KRNV-DT/KENV-DT Reno, Nevada/Salt Lake City, Utah (collectively, the Cunningham Stations). Certain of our stations provide services to these Cunningham Stations pursuant to LMAs or JSAs and SSAs. See Note 1. Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, for further discussion of the scope of services provided under these types of arrangements. As of September 30, 2018, we have jointly and severally, unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed $51.4 million of Cunningham's debt, of which $10.3 million, net of $0.7 million deferred financing costs, relates to the Cunningham VIEs that we consolidate, as discussed further below.
 
The voting stock of the Cunningham Stations was owned by the estate of Carolyn C. Smith, the mother of our controlling shareholders, until January 2018, when the voting stock was purchased by an unrelated party after receiving FCC approval. All of the non-voting stock is owned by trusts for the benefit of the children of our controlling shareholders.  We consolidate certain subsidiaries of Cunningham with which we have variable interests through various arrangements related to the Cunningham Stations, as discussed further below.

The services provided to WNUV-TV, WMYA-TV, WTTE-TV, WRGT-TV and WVAH-TV are governed by a master agreement which has a current term that expires on July 1, 2023 and we have two additional 5-year renewal terms remaining with final expiration on July 1, 2033. 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. Pursuant to the terms of this agreement we are obligated to pay Cunningham an annual fee for the television stations equal to the greater of (i) 3% of each station’s annual net broadcast revenue or (ii) $5.0 million. The aggregate purchase price of these television stations increases by 6% annually. A portion of the fee is required to be applied to the purchase price to the extent of the 6% increase. The remaining aggregate purchase price of these stations as of September 30, 2018 was approximately $53.6 million. Additionally, we provide services to WDBB-TV pursuant to an LMA, which expires April 22, 2025, and own a purchase option to acquire this station for $0.2 million. We paid Cunningham, under these agreements, $2.0 million and $2.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $6.7 million and $6.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

The agreements with KBVU-TV/KCVU-TV, KRNV-DT/KENV-DT, WBSF-TV, WEMT-TV, WGTU-TV/WGTQ-TV, WPFO-TV, and WYDO-TV expire in December 2020, November 2021, November 2021, May 2023, August 2023, December 2023, and August 2025, respectively, and each has renewal provisions for successive eight year periods. We earned $19.7 million and $6.6 million from the services we performed for these stations for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $48.6 million and $10.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Cunningham assumed the joint sales agreement under which we provide services to WEMT-TV, WYDO-TV, and KBVU-TV/KCVU-TV in September 2017 with the acquisition of the membership interest of Esteem Broadcasting LLC in connection with our acquisition of Bonten Media Group, as discussed in Note 2. Acquisitions and Dispositions of Assets.

As we consolidate the licensees as VIEs, certain amounts we earn or pay under the arrangements are eliminated in consolidation and the gross revenues of the stations are reported on our consolidated statements of operations. Our consolidated revenues include $43.1 million and $31.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $119.5 million and $84.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, related to the Cunningham Stations.

In April 2016, we entered into an agreement with Cunningham to provide master control equipment and provide master control services to a station in Johnstown, PA with which Cunningham has an LMA that expires in April 2019. Under the agreement, Cunningham paid us an initial fee of $0.7 million and pays us $0.2 million annually for master control services plus the cost to maintain and repair the equipment. In August 2016, we entered into an agreement, expiring in October 2021, with Cunningham to provide a news share service with the Johnstown, PA station beginning in October 2016 for an annual fee of $1.0 million.

In 2017, Cunningham repaid, in its entirety, a January 2016 promissory note to borrow $19.5 million from us. Interest income from the note receivable was $0.2 million and $0.7 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively.

Atlantic Automotive Corporation
 
We sell advertising time to Atlantic Automotive Corporation (Atlantic Automotive), a holding company that owns automobile dealerships and an automobile leasing company.  David D. Smith, our Executive Chairman, has a controlling interest in, and is a member of the Board of Directors of, Atlantic Automotive.  We received payments for advertising totaling less than $0.1 million and $0.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $0.1 million and $0.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively.  

Additionally, Atlantic Automotive leased office space owned by one of our non-media investments accounted for under the equity method. This investment was sold in May 2017. Atlantic Automotive paid $0.4 million in rent for the nine months ended September 30, 2017.
 
Leased property by real estate ventures

Certain of our real estate ventures have entered into property leases with entities owned by members of the Smith Family. Total rent received under these leases was $0.2 million and $0.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $0.4 million for both the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017.

Other transactions with equity method investees

During the quarter ended September 30, 2018, 120 Sports Holding, LLC (120 Sports), an equity method investee, entered into a convertible promissory note to borrow $3.75 million from us, maturing on July 30, 2021. The note bears interest at a fixed rate of 6.0% per annum.