Property, Plant And Equipment, Intangible Assets And Goodwill

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Property, Plant And Equipment, Intangible Assets And Goodwill [Abstract]

Property, Plant And Equipment, Intangible Assets And Goodwill

NOTE 2 – PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT, INTANGIBLE ASSETS AND GOODWILL

Property, Plant and Equipment

The Company’s property, plant and equipment consisted of the following classes of assets at September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, respectively.

(In thousands)	September 30, 2014		December 31, 2013
Structures	$	3,023,714	$	3,021,152
Less: accumulated depreciation		1,380,187		1,255,642
Structures, net	$	1,643,527	$	1,765,510

Land, buildings and improvements	$	739,845	$	723,268
Towers, transmitters and studio equipment		451,651		440,612
Furniture and other equipment		525,245		473,995
Construction in progress		89,881		123,814
		1,806,622		1,761,689
Less: accumulated depreciation		721,408		629,569
Other property, plant and equipment, net	$	1,085,214	$	1,132,120

Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets

The Company’s indefinite-lived intangible assets consist of Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) broadcast licenses in its iHeartMedia (“iHM”) segment and billboard permits in its Americas outdoor advertising segment. Due to significant differences in both business practices and regulations, billboards in the International outdoor advertising segment are subject to long-term, finite contracts unlike the Company’s permits in the United States and Canada. Accordingly, there are no indefinite-lived intangible assets in the International outdoor advertising segment.

Other Intangible Assets

Other intangible assets include definite-lived intangible assets and permanent easements. The Company’s definite-lived intangible assets include primarily transit and street furniture contracts, talent and representation contracts, customer and advertiser relationships, and site-leases, all of which are amortized over the respective lives of the agreements, or over the period of time the assets are expected to contribute directly or indirectly to the Company’s future cash flows. Permanent easements are indefinite-lived intangible assets which include certain rights to use real property not owned by the Company. The Company periodically reviews the appropriateness of the amortization periods related to its definite-lived intangible assets. These assets are recorded at cost.

The following table presents the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization for each major class of other intangible assets at September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, respectively:

(In thousands)		September 30, 2014				December 31, 2013
		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization
Transit, street furniture and other outdoor
	contractual rights	$	749,372	$	(490,255)	$	777,521	$	(464,548)
Customer / advertiser relationships			1,212,349		(735,526)		1,212,745		(645,988)
Talent contracts			319,384		(216,788)		319,617		(195,403)
Representation contracts			238,107		(201,215)		252,961		(200,058)
Permanent easements			174,628		-		173,753		-
Other			387,847		(170,816)		387,405		(151,459)
	Total	$	3,081,687	$	(1,814,600)	$	3,124,002	$	(1,657,456)

Total amortization expense related to definite-lived intangible assets was $65.7 million and $70.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and $198.9 million and $213.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

The following table presents the Company’s estimate of amortization expense for each of the five succeeding fiscal years for definite-lived intangible assets:

(In thousands)
2015	$	240,713
2016		222,207
2017		195,977
2018		126,664
2019		42,545

Goodwill

The following table presents the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill in each of the Company’s reportable segments.

(In thousands)		iHM		Americas Outdoor Advertising		International Outdoor Advertising		Other		Consolidated
Balance as of December 31, 2012		$	3,236,688	$	571,932	$	290,316	$	117,149	$	4,216,085
	Impairment		-		-		(10,684)		-		(10,684)
	Acquisitions		-		-		-		97		97
	Dispositions		-		-		(456)		-		(456)
	Foreign currency		-		-		(974)		-		(974)
	Other		(1,881)		-		-		-		(1,881)
Balance as of December 31, 2013		$	3,234,807	$	571,932	$	278,202	$	117,246	$	4,202,187
	Acquisitions		28,760		-		-		298		29,058
	Foreign currency		-		-		(18,693)		-		(18,693)
	Other		60		-		-		-		60
Balance as of September 30, 2014		$	3,263,627	$	571,932	$	259,509	$	117,544	$	4,212,612

The Company is the beneficiary of Aloha Station Trust, LLC (the “Aloha Trust”), which owns and operates radio stations which the Aloha Trust is required to divest in order to comply with Federal Communication Commission (“FCC”) media ownership rules, and which are being marketed for sale. During the three months ended September 30, 2014, the Aloha Trust completed a transaction in which it exchanged two radio stations for a portfolio of 29 radio stations. In this transaction the Company received 28 radio stations. One radio station was placed into the Brunswick Station Trust, LLC in order to comply with FCC media ownership rules where it is being marketed for sale, and the Company is the beneficiary of this trust. The exchange was accounted for at fair value in accordance with ASC 805, Business Combinations, resulting in the recognition of $28.8 million of goodwill. The disposal of these radio stations resulted in a gain on sale of $43.5 million, which is included in Other operating income.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale. Includes, but is not limited to, accounting policies and methodology, roll forwards, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, including composite depreciation, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, useful lives and method used, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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