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Unfavorable Contracts Liability | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2019
Unfavorable Contracts Liability [Abstract] |
Unfavorable Contracts Liability | Note 7. Unfavorable Contracts Liability In connection with the October 2014 acquisition of CARS by TEGNA, the Company entered into affiliate agreements with the former owners of CARS. Under the affiliate agreements, affiliates have the exclusive right to sell and price the Company’s products and services in their local territories, paying the Company a wholesale rate for the Company’s products. The Company charged the affiliates 60% of the corresponding Cars.com’s retail rate for products sold to affiliate dealer customers and recognized revenue generated from these agreements as Wholesale revenue in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income. The Unfavorable contracts liability was established as a result of these below market-rate unfavorable affiliate agreements that the Company entered into as part of TEGNA’s acquisition of the Company in 2014. Prior to the affiliate conversions discussed below, over the annual contract period, the Company recognized $25.2 million of Wholesale revenue with a corresponding reduction of the Unfavorable contracts liability. The Unfavorable contracts liability was fully amortized as of September 30, 2019 and as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Unfavorable contracts liability on the Consolidated Balance Sheets was zero and $18.9 million within Current liabilities, respectively. The Company has amended five of its affiliate agreements (Gannett, McClatchy, TEGNA, tronc, and the Washington Post) and as a result, has a direct relationship with these dealer customers before the original contractual conversion date specified. As a result, we recognize the revenue associated with converted dealer customers as Retail revenue, rather than Wholesale revenue, in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income. On October 1, 2019, the Belo affiliate agreement expired and the Company now directly serves all dealer customers. As part of the amendments to the affiliate agreements, Gannett, McClatchy, TEGNA, tronc, and the Washington Post have agreed to perform certain marketing support and transition services through varying dates, the latest of which is June 29, 2020. The fees the Company pays associated with the amended affiliate agreements are recorded as Affiliate revenue share expense within Operating expenses in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income. The Company no longer records the amortization of the Unfavorable contracts liability associated with the converted markets to revenue as the Company is recognizing this direct revenue at retail rates. The amortization of the Unfavorable contracts liability was recorded as a reduction of Affiliate revenue share within Operating expenses in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income. As of December 31, 2019, the Unfavorable contracts liability has been fully amortized. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company recorded $17.5 million as a reduction to Affiliate revenue share, rather than Wholesale revenue, in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income. The reduction to Affiliate revenue share was partially offset by the fees associated with the marketing support and transition services. The Company’s Unfavorable contracts liability activity for the year ended December 31, 2019 is as follows (in thousands):
December 31, 2018 |  | $ | 18,885 |
Amortization into Wholesale revenue (1) |  |  | (1,358 | )
Amortization into Affiliate revenue share (2) |  |  | (17,527 | )
December 31, 2019 |  | $ | — |
(1) | Amount represents the amortization of the Unfavorable contracts liability related to the remaining affiliate agreements into Wholesale revenue in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income.
(2) | Amount represents the amortization of the Unfavorable contracts liability related to the converted McClatchy, tronc and Washington Post affiliate agreements into Affiliate revenue share within Operating expenses in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income.

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- Definition Unfavorable contracts liability. + References No definition available. + Details
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