Leases

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

We adopted the FASB’s new lease accounting guidance on January 1, 2019. We determine if an arrangement contains a lease at the agreement’s inception. As permitted under the lease accounting standards adoption guidance, arrangements prior to the adoption date retained their previous determination as to whether or not an arrangement contained a lease. Arrangements entered into subsequent to the adoption date of the new guidance have been analyzed to determine if a lease exists depending on whether there was an identified underlying asset that we control.

Our portfolio of leases primarily consists of leases for the use of corporate offices, station facilities, equipment and for antenna/transmitter sites. Our lease portfolio consists entirely of operating leases, with most of our leases having remaining terms ranging 1 to 15 years. Operating lease balances are included in our right-of-use assets for operating leases, other accrued liabilities and operating lease liabilities on our Consolidated Balance Sheet.

Lease liabilities are calculated as of the lease commencement date based on the present value of lease payments to be made over the term of the lease. Our lease agreements often contain lease and non-lease components (e.g., common-area maintenance or other executory costs). We include the non-lease payments in the calculation of our lease liabilities to the extent they are either fixed or included within the fixed base rental payments. Some of our leases include variable lease components (e.g., rent increases based on the consumer price index) and variable non-lease components, which are expensed as they are incurred. Such variable costs are not material. The interest rate implicit in our lease contracts is typically not readily determinable. As a result, we use our estimated incremental borrowing rate in determining the present value of future payments, which reflects the fixed rate at which we could borrow on a collateralized basis the amount of the lease payments for a similar term.

The operating lease right-of-use asset as of the lease commencement date is calculated based on the amount of the operating lease liability, less any lease incentive. Some of our lease agreements include options to renew for additional terms or provide us with the ability terminate the lease early. In determining the term of the lease, we consider whether or not we are reasonably certain to exercise these options. Lease expense for fixed lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

The following table presents lease related assets and liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2019 (in thousands):



	Dec 31, 2019
Assets
Right-of-use assets for operating leases	$	103,461

Liabilities
Operating lease liabilities (current)¹	11,090
Operating lease liabilities (non-current)	105,902
Total operating lease liabilities	$	116,992

(1) Current operating lease liabilities are included within the other accrued liabilities line item of the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

As of December 31, 2019, the weighted-average remaining lease term for our lease portfolio was 10.1 years and the weighted average discount rate used to calculate the present value of our lease liabilities was 5.0%.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, we recognized lease expense of $13.9 million, $18.5 million, and $21.0 million respectively. In addition, we made cash payments for operating leases of $11.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2019, which are included in cash flows from operating activities on Statement of Cash Flows.

The table below reconciles future lease payments for each of the next five years and remaining years thereafter, in aggregate, to the lease liabilities recorded on the Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2019 (in thousands):



Future Period	Cash Payments

2020	$	15,618
2021	17,011
2022	16,002
2023	14,800
2024	13,120
Thereafter	75,996
Total lease payments	152,547
Less: amount of lease payments representing interest	35,555
Present value of lease liabilities	$	116,992

As of December 31, 2018, operating lease commitments under lessee arrangements were $10.4 million, $9.9 million, $11.7 million, $10.9 million, and $10.3 million for the years 2019 through 2023, respectively, and $73.9 million thereafter.