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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2018
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | Summary of Significant Accounting Policies As used in the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, the terms “Scripps,” “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us” may, depending on the context, refer to The E.W. Scripps Company, to one or more of its consolidated subsidiary companies or to all of them taken as a whole. Basis of Presentation — The condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Rule 10-01 of Regulation S-X. The interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements, including the notes thereto included in our 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K. In management's opinion, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) necessary for a fair presentation of the interim periods have been made. Results of operations are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for future interim periods or for the full year. Nature of Operations — We are a diverse media enterprise, serving audiences and businesses through a portfolio of local and national media brands. All of our media businesses provide content and advertising services via digital platforms, including the Internet, smartphones and tablets. Our media businesses are organized into the following reportable business segments: Local Media, National Media and Other. Additional information for our business segments is presented in the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. In the fourth quarter of 2017, we began the process to divest our radio business. As such, we have classified the radio segment as held for sale in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and reported its results as discontinued operations in our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations. For additional information on our radio business, see Note 16. Use of Estimates — Preparing financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires us to make a variety of decisions that affect the reported amounts and the related disclosures. Such decisions include the selection of accounting principles that reflect the economic substance of the underlying transactions and the assumptions on which to base accounting estimates. In reaching such decisions, we apply judgment based on our understanding and analysis of the relevant circumstances, including our historical experience, actuarial studies and other assumptions. Our financial statements include estimates and assumptions used in accounting for our defined benefit pension plans; the periods over which long-lived assets are depreciated or amortized; the fair value of long-lived assets, goodwill and indefinite lived assets; the liability for uncertain tax positions and valuation allowances against deferred income tax assets; the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in business combinations; and self-insured risks. While we re-evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis, actual results could differ from those estimated at the time of preparation of the financial statements. Nature of Products and Services — The following is a description of principal activities from which we generate revenue. Core Advertising — Core advertising is comprised of sales to local and national customers. The advertising includes a combination of broadcast air spots, as well as digital advertising. Pricing of broadcast spot advertising is based on audience size and share, the demographic of our audiences and the demand for our limited inventory of commercial time. Advertising time is sold through a combination of local sales staff and national sales representative firms. Digital revenues are primarily generated from the sale of advertising to local and national customers on our local television websites, smartphone apps, tablet apps and other platforms. Political Advertising — Political advertising is generally sold through our Washington D.C. sales office. Advertising is sold to presidential, gubernatorial, Senate and House of Representative candidates, as well as for state and local issues. It is also sold to political action groups (PACs) or other advocacy groups. Retransmission Revenues — We earn revenue from retransmission consent agreements with multi-channel video programming distributors (“MVPDs”) in our markets. The MVPDs are cable operators and satellite carriers who pay us to offer our programming to their customers. We also receive fees from over-the-top virtual MVPDs such as YouTubeTV, DirectTV Now and Sony Vue. The fees we receive are typically based on the number of subscribers in our local market and the contracted rate per subscriber. Other Products and Services — We derive revenue from sponsorships and community events through our Local Media segment. Our National Media segment offers subscription services for access to premium content to its customers. Our podcast business acts as a sales and marketing representative and earns commission for its work. Refer to Note 12. Segment Information for further information, including revenue by significant product and service offering. Revenue Recognition — Revenue is measured based on the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for promised goods or services provided to customers, and excludes any amounts collected on behalf of third parties. Revenue is recognized upon transfer of control of promised products or services to customers. Advertising revenue is recognized, net of agency commissions, over time primarily as ads are aired or impressions are delivered and any contracted audience guarantees are met. We apply the practical expedient to recognize revenue at the amount we have the right to invoice, which corresponds directly to the value a customer has received relative to our performance. For advertising sold based on audience guarantees, audience deficiency may result in an obligation to deliver additional advertisements to the customer. To the extent that we do not satisfy contracted audience ratings, we record deferred revenue until such time that the audience guarantee has been satisfied. Retransmission revenues are considered licenses of functional intellectual property and are recognized at the point in time the content is transferred to the customer. MVPDs report their subscriber numbers to us generally on a 30- to 90-day lag. Prior to receiving the MVPD reporting, we record revenue based on estimates of the number of subscribers, utilizing historical levels and trends of subscribers for each MVPD. Refer to Note 2. Recently Adopted and Issued Accounting Standards for further information on the adoption of the new revenue recognition standard. Contract Balances — Timing of revenue recognition may differ from the timing of invoicing to customers. We record a receivable when revenue is recognized prior to invoicing, or unearned revenue when revenue is recognized subsequent to invoicing. Payment terms may vary by contract type, although our terms generally include a requirement of payment within 30 to 90 days. In instances where the timing of revenue recognition differs from the timing of invoicing, we have determined our contracts do not include a significant financing component. The primary purpose of our invoicing terms is to provide customers with simplified and predictable ways of purchasing our products and services, not to receive financing from our customers. The allowance for doubtful accounts reflects our best estimate of probable losses inherent in the accounts receivable balance. We determine the allowance based on known troubled accounts, historical experience, and other currently available evidence. Allowance for doubtful accounts totaled $1.9 million at March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017. We record unearned revenue when cash payments are received in advance of our performance. Unearned revenue balances totaled $7.2 million at March 31, 2018, and are expected to be recognized within revenue over the next 12 months. Unearned revenue totaled $7.4 million at December 31, 2017. Assets Recognized from the Costs to Obtain a Contract with a Customer — We recognize an asset for the incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer if we expect the benefit of those costs to be longer than one year. We apply and use the practical expedient in the revenue guidance to expense costs as incurred for costs to obtain a contract when the amortization period is one year or less. This expedient applies to advertising sales commissions since advertising contracts are short-term in nature. We do not have any capitalized costs to obtain a contract recognized within our condensed consolidated balance sheets. Use of Other Practical Expedients — For our arrangements that have an original duration of one year or less, we use the practical expedient applicable to such arrangements and do not consider the time value of money. In addition, we do not disclose the value of unsatisfied performance obligations for (i) contracts with an original expected length of one year or less and (ii) contracts for which we recognize revenue at the amount to which we have the right to invoice for services performed. Share-Based Compensation — We have a Long-Term Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) which is described more fully in our 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K. The Plan provides for the award of incentive and nonqualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock units (RSUs) and unrestricted Class A Common shares and performance units to key employees and non-employee directors. Share-based compensation costs totaled $3.4 million and $5.8 million for the first quarter of 2018 and 2017, respectively. Earnings Per Share (“EPS”) — Unvested awards of share-based payments with rights to receive dividends or dividend equivalents, such as our RSUs, are considered participating securities for purposes of calculating EPS. Under the two-class method, we allocate a portion of net income to these participating securities and, therefore, exclude that income from the calculation of EPS for common stock. We do not allocate losses to the participating securities. The following table presents information about basic and diluted weighted-average shares outstanding:
|  | Three Months Ended March 31,
(in thousands) |  | 2018 |  | 2017
Numerator (for basic and diluted earnings per share) |  |  |  |
Income (loss) from continuing operations, net of tax |  | $ | (8,577 | ) |  | $ | (2,733 | )
Net loss (income) attributable to noncontrolling interest |  | 632 |  |  | — |
Numerator for basic and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations attributable to the shareholders of The E.W. Scripps Company |  | $ | (7,945 | ) |  | $ | (2,733 | )
Denominator |  |  |  |
Basic weighted-average shares outstanding |  | 81,554 |  |  | 82,079 |
Effect of dilutive securities: |  |  |  |
Stock options held by employees and directors |  | — |  |  | — |
Diluted weighted-average shares outstanding |  | 81,554 |  |  | 82,079 |
Anti-dilutive securities (1) |  | 1,677 |  |  | 1,397 |
(1) | Amount outstanding at balance sheet date, before application of the treasury stock method and not weighted for period outstanding.
For the three month periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, we incurred a net loss and the inclusion of RSUs and stock options would have been anti-dilutive, and accordingly the diluted EPS calculation for the period excludes those common share equivalents.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for all significant accounting policies of the reporting entity. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2122369 + Details
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