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CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS (Block) | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2017
Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure Abstract |
Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure Text Block | 20. CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS Contingencies The Company is subject to various outstanding claims which arise in the ordinary course of business and to other legal proceedings. Management anticipates that any potential liability of the Company, which may arise out of or with respect to these matters, will not materially affect the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows. Insurance The Company uses a combination of insurance and self-insurance mechanisms to mitigate the potential liabilities for workers’ compensation, general liability, property, directors’ and officers’ liability, vehicle liability and employee health care benefits. Liabilities associated with the risks that are retained by the Company are estimated, in part, by considering claims experience, demographic factors, severity factors, outside expertise and other actuarial assumptions. Under these policies, the Company is required to maintain letters of credit. Broadcast Licenses The Company could face increased costs in the form of fines and a greater risk that the Company could lose any one or more of its broadcasting licenses if the FCC concludes that pro gramming broadcast by a Company station was obscene, indecent or profane and such conduct warrants license revocation. The FCC's authority to impose a fine for the broadcast of such material is $397,251 for a single incident, with a maximum fine of up to $3,666,930 for a continuing violation. The Company has determined that, at this time, the amount of potential fines and penalties, if any, cannot be estimated. The Company has filed, on a timely basis, renewal applications for those r adio stations with radio broadcasting licenses that are subject to renewal with the FCC. The Company’s costs to renew its licenses with the FCC are nominal and are expensed as incurred rather than capitalized. From time to time, the renewal of certain lic enses may be delayed. The Company continues to operate these radio stations under their existing licenses until the licenses are renewed. The FCC may delay the renewal pending the resolution of open inquiries. The affected stations are, however, authorize d to continue operations until the FCC acts upon the renewal applications. Currently, all of the Company’s licenses have been renewed. The FCC initiated an investigation in January 2007, related to a contest at one of the Company’s stations. In October 2 016, the FCC designated for a hearing whether the Company operated this station in the public interest and whether such station’s license should be renewed. In February 2017, the Company permanently discontinued operation of the station and returned the s tation’s broadcasting license to the FCC for cancellation, in order to facilitate the Merger. As a result, the Company recorded a $13.5 million loss in the statement of operations in net gain/loss on sale or disposal of assets. Performance Fees The Company incur s fees from performing rights organizations (“PRO”) to license the Company’s public performance of the musical works contained in each PRO’s reperto ire. The Radio Music Licensing Committee (the “RMLC”), of which the Company is a repr esented participant, (i) entered into an industry-wide settlement with American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers that became effective January 1, 2017 for a five-year term; (ii) is currently seeking reasonable industry-wide fees from Broadcast Music, Inc. effective January 1, 2017; (iii) is currently subject to arbitration proceedings with SESAC, Inc. to determine fair and reasonable fees that would be retroactive to January 1, 2016; and (iv) filed in Nove mber 2016 a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Global Music Rights (“GMR”) arguing that GMR is a monopoly demanding monopoly prices and asking the Court to subject GMR to an antitrust consent decree. GMR fil ed a counterclaim in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California a long with a motion to dismiss the RMLC’s claim in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. There have been subsequent claims and counterclaims to establish jurisdiction. In January 2017, the Company obtained an interim license from GMR for fees effective January 1, 2017 to avoid any infringement claims by GMR for using GMR’s repertory without a license. This license, with an optional extension, is expected to expire September 30, 2018. Other Matters During the third quarter of 2016, the Company settled a legal claim with British Petroleum as a result of their Deepwater Horizon o il s pill in the Gulf of Mexico and recovered $2.3 million on a net basis after deducting certain related expenses. The claim was a result of lost business due to the oil spill. Leases a nd Other Contracts Rental expense is incurred principally for office and broadcasting facilities. Certain of the leases contain clauses that provide for contingent rental expense based upon defined events such as cost of living adjustments and/or maintenance costs in excess of pre-defined amounts. The Company also has rent obligations under a sale and leaseback transaction whereby the Company sold certain of its radio broadcasting towers to a third party for cash in return for long-term leases on these towers. These sale and leaseback obligations are listed in the future minimum annual commitments table. The Company sold these towers as operating these towers to maximize tower rental income was not part of the Company’s core strategy. The following table provides the Company’s rent expense for the periods indicated:
|  | Years Ended December 31,
|  | 2017 |  | 2016 |  | 2015
|  | (amounts in thousands)
Rent expense |  | $ | 23,742 |  | $ | 17,892 |  | $ | 16,116
The Company also has various commitments under the following types of contracts:
|  | Future Minimum Annual Commitments
|  |  |  | Sale |  |  |  |  |  |
|  | Rent Under |  | Leaseback |  | Programming |  |  |
| Operating |  | Operating |  | and Related |  |  |
| Leases |  | Leases |  | Contracts |  | Total
| (amounts in thousands)
Years ending December 31, |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
2018 | $ | 51,675 |  | $ | 895 |  | $ | 210,691 |  | $ | 263,261
2019 |  | 49,547 |  |  | 920 |  |  | 109,986 |  |  | 160,453
2020 |  | 44,962 |  |  | 948 |  |  | 80,699 |  |  | 126,609
2021 |  | 40,219 |  |  | 976 |  |  | 54,647 |  |  | 95,842
2022 |  | 34,853 |  |  | 1,006 |  |  | 34,529 |  |  | 70,388
Thereafter |  | 154,963 |  |  | 7,733 |  |  | 28,579 |  |  | 191,275
| $ | 376,219 |  | $ | 12,478 |  | $ | 519,131 |  | $ | 907,828

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