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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2021
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 2020 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. Expense amounts that were previously reported under the captions “Employee compensation and benefits,” “Programming,” and “Other expenses” in our 2020 Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations have been reclassified into line items captioned as either “Costs of revenues” or “Selling, general and administrative expenses.” Costs of revenues reflect the costs of providing our broadcast signals, programming and other content to respective distribution platforms. The costs captured within the costs of revenues caption include programming, content distribution, satellite transmission fees, production and operations and other direct costs. Selling, general and administrative expenses are primarily comprised of sales, marketing and advertising expenses, research costs, certain occupancy costs and other administrative costs. Principles of Consolidation — The consolidated financial statements include our accounts and those of our wholly-owned and majority-owned subsidiaries and variable interest entities (VIEs) for which we are the primary beneficiary. We are the primary beneficiary of a VIE when we have the power to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly impact the economic performance of the VIE and have the obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive returns that would be significant to the VIE. Noncontrolling interest represents an owner’s share of the equity in certain of our consolidated entities. All intercompany transactions and account balances have been eliminated in consolidation. Investments in entities over which we have significant influence but not control are accounted for using the equity method of accounting. Income from equity method investments represents our proportionate share of net income generated by equity method investees. Nature of Operations — We are a diverse media enterprise, serving audiences and businesses through a portfolio of local and national television brands. All of our businesses provide content and services via digital platforms, including the Internet, smartphones and tablets. Our media businesses are organized into the following reportable business segments: Local Media, Scripps Networks and Other. Additional information for our business segments is presented in the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. 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 airtime, as well as digital advertising. Pricing of advertising time 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 Hulu, YouTubeTV and AT&T Now. 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 Scripps Networks segment offers subscription services for access to premium content to its customers. Refer to Note 13.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 — 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 — 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. Other — Revenues generated by our Triton business are recognized on a ratable basis over the contract term as the monthly service is provided to the customer. 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 estimate the allowance based on expected credit losses, including our historical experience of actual losses and known troubled accounts. The allowance for doubtful accounts totaled $3.3 million at March 31, 2021 and $3.4 million at December 31, 2020. We record unearned revenue when cash payments are received in advance of our performance. We generally require amounts payable under advertising contracts with political advertising customers to be paid in advance. Unearned revenue totaled $21.4 million at March 31, 2021 and is expected to be recognized within revenue over the next 12 months. Unearned revenue totaled $14.1 million at December 31, 2020. We recorded $4.4 million of revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2021 that was included in unearned revenue at December 31, 2020. Leases — We determine if an arrangement is a lease at inception. Operating leases are included in operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) assets, other current liabilities and operating lease liabilities in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. ROU assets represent our right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent our obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. Operating lease ROU assets and liabilities are recognized at the commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. As the implicit rate is not readily determinable for most of our leases, we use our incremental borrowing rate when determining the present value of lease payments. The incremental borrowing rate represents an estimate of the interest rate we would incur at lease commencement to borrow an amount equal to the lease payments on a collateralized basis over the term of the lease. The operating lease ROU asset also includes any payments made at or before commencement and is reduced by any lease incentives. Our lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that we will exercise that option. Lease expense for lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Share-Based Compensation — We have a Long-Term Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) which is described more fully in our 2020 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 $8.3 million and $4.2 million for the first quarter of 2021 and 2020, 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) |  |  |  |  |  | 2021 |  | 2020
Numerator (for basic and diluted earnings per share) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Income (loss) from continuing operations, net of tax |  |  |  |  |  | $ | 3,503 |  |  | $ | (7,198) |
Less preferred stock dividends |  |  |  |  |  | (11,643) |  |  | — |
Numerator for basic and diluted earnings per share |  |  |  |  |  | $ | (8,140) |  |  | $ | (7,198) |
Denominator |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Basic weighted-average shares outstanding |  |  |  |  |  | 81,902 |  |  | 81,077 |
Effect of dilutive securities: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Restricted stock units |  |  |  |  |  | — |  |  | — |
Diluted weighted-average shares outstanding |  |  |  |  |  | 81,902 |  |  | 81,077 |
For the three month periods ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, we incurred a net loss and the inclusion of RSUs would have been anti-dilutive. The March 31, 2021 and 2020 diluted EPS calculations exclude the effect from 2.4 million and 2.2 million, respectively, of outstanding RSUs that were anti-dilutive.

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