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Intangible Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Disclosure Text Block

Intangible Assets

Note 7 Intangible Assets

Activity related to TDS’ Licenses, Goodwill and Franchise rights are presented below.  See Note 6 — Acquisitions, Divestitures and Exchanges for information regarding transactions which affected these intangible assets during the periods.  Prior to 2009, TDS accounted for U.S. Cellular’s share repurchases as step acquisitions, allocating a portion of the share repurchase value to TDS’ Licenses and Goodwill.  Consequently, U.S. Cellular’s Licenses and Goodwill on a stand-alone basis do not equal the TDS consolidated Licenses and Goodwill related to U.S. Cellular.

Licenses
			U.S. Cellular			Wireline			Cable			Other1			Total
(Dollars in thousands)
Balance at December 31, 2013			$	1,405,759		$	2,800		$	–		$	15,220		$	1,423,779
	Acquisitions			41,707			–			2,703			–			44,410
	Transferred to Assets held for sale			(56,809)			–			–			–			(56,809)
	Exchanges, net			55,780			–			–			–			55,780
	Divestitures			–			–			–			(15,220)			(15,220)
	Other			1,634			–			–			–			1,634
Balance at December 31, 2014				1,448,071			2,800			2,703			–			1,453,574
	Acquisitions2			345,807			–			–			–			345,807
	Exchanges, net			43,485			–			–			–			43,485
	Other			1,482			–			–			–			1,482
Balance at December 31, 2015			$	1,838,845		$	2,800		$	2,703		$	–		$	1,844,348
1		Represents the transfer of licenses from Airadigm to U.S. Cellular in 2014.  See Note 6 — Acquisitions, Divestitures and Exchanges for additional information.
2		Amount in 2015 includes purchases totaling $338.3 million made by Advantage Spectrum from the FCC for licenses in which it was the provisional winning bidder in Auction 97.  See Note 6 — Acquisitions, Divestitures and Exchanges, and Note 14 — Variable Interest Entities for further information.  These licenses have not yet been granted by the FCC.

Goodwill
			U.S. Cellular			Wireline			Cable			HMS			Other			Total
(Dollars in thousands)
Balance at December 31, 2013¹			$	232,041		$	420,458		$	61,712		$	118,830		$	3,802		$	836,843
	Acquisitions			–			–			33,610			–			–			33,610
	Loss on impairment			–			–			–			(84,000)			(3,802)			(87,802)
	Divestitures			(291)			(2,564)			–			–			–			(2,855)
	Transferred to Assets held for sale			(4,344)			(4,100)			–			–			–			(8,444)
Balance at December 31, 2014				227,406			413,794			95,322			34,830			–			771,352
	Divestitures			–			(5,005)			–			–			–			(5,005)
	Other			(555)			–			–			–			–			(555)
Balance at December 31, 2015			$	226,851		$	408,789		$	95,322		$	34,830		$	–		$	765,792
1		Includes accumulated impairment losses in prior periods as follows: $333.9 million for U.S. Cellular, $29.4 million for Wireline and $0.5 million for Other.

Interim Goodwill Impairment Assessment

During the third quarter of 2014, due to a decline in projected revenue and earnings of TDS Telecom’s HMS reporting unit compared with previously projected results, TDS determined that an interim impairment test of HMS Goodwill was required. 

As of August 1, 2014, the carrying value of the HMS reporting unit exceeded its fair value; therefore, a Step 2 Goodwill impairment test was performed.  The second step compared the implied fair value of the reporting unit Goodwill to the carrying amount of that Goodwill.  To calculate the implied fair value of Goodwill in this second step, TDS allocated the fair value of the reporting unit to all of the assets and liabilities of that reporting unit (including any unrecognized intangible assets) as if the reporting unit had been acquired in a business combination and the fair value was the price paid to acquire the reporting unit.  The excess of the fair value of the reporting unit over the amount assigned to the assets and liabilities of the reporting unit was the implied fair value of Goodwill.  Since the carrying amount of Goodwill exceeded the implied fair value of Goodwill, an impairment loss was recognized for that difference.  As a result of the Step 2 Goodwill impairment test, TDS recognized a loss on impairment of $84.0 million during the third quarter of 2014.

Franchise Rights
			Cable
(Dollars in thousands)
Balance at December 31, 2013			$	123,668
	Acquisitions			120,979
	Other			(347)
Balance at December 31, 2014				244,300
	Other			(120)
Balance at December 31, 2015			$	244,180

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The entire disclosure for the aggregate amount of goodwill and a description of intangible assets, which may include (a) for amortizable intangible assets (also referred to as finite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, the amount of any significant residual value, and the weighted-average amortization period, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization (also referred to as indefinite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, and (c) the amount of research and development assets acquired and written off in the period, including the line item in the income statement in which the amounts written off are aggregated, if not readily apparent from the income statement. Also discloses (a) for amortizable intangibles assets in total and by major class, the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization, the total amortization expense for the period, and the estimated aggregate amortization expense for each of the five succeeding fiscal years, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization the carrying amount in total and by major class, and (c) for goodwill, in total and for each reportable segment, the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the period (including the aggregate amount of goodwill acquired, the aggregate amount of impairment losses recognized, and the amount of goodwill included in the gain (loss) on disposal of a reporting unit). If any part of goodwill has not been allocated to a reportable segment, discloses the unallocated amount and the reasons for not allocating. For each impairment loss recognized related to an intangible asset (excluding goodwill), discloses: (a) a description of the impaired intangible asset and the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method for determining fair value, (c) the caption in the income statement or the statement of activities in which the impairment loss is aggregated, and (d) the segment in which the impaired intangible asset is reported. For each goodwill impairment loss recognized, discloses: (a) a description of the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method of determining the fair value of the associated reporting unit, and (c) if a recognized impairment loss is an estimate not finalized and the reasons why the estimate is not final. May also disclose the nature and amount of any significant adjustments made to a previous estimate of an impairment loss.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26713463&loc=d3e16373-109275

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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-Topic 350
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26713463&loc=d3e16265-109275

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-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26713463&loc=d3e16323-109275

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Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35741047&loc=d3e13854-109267

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