Franchises, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

Franchise rights represent the value attributed to agreements or authorizations with local and state authorities that allow access to homes in cable service areas. For valuation purposes, they are defined as the future economic benefits of the right to solicit and service potential customers (customer marketing rights), and the right to deploy and market new services to potential customers (service marketing rights).

Management estimates the fair value of franchise rights at the date of acquisition and determines if the franchise has a finite life or an indefinite life. All franchises that qualify for indefinite life treatment are tested for impairment annually or more frequently as warranted by events or changes in circumstances. In determining whether our franchises have an indefinite life, the Company considered the likelihood of franchise renewals, the expected costs of franchise renewals, and the technological state of the associated cable systems, with a view to whether or not it is in compliance with any technology upgrading requirements specified in a franchise agreement. The Company has concluded that as of December 31, 2014 and 2013 all of its franchises qualify for indefinite life treatment.

Franchise assets are aggregated into essentially inseparable units of accounting to conduct valuations. The units of accounting generally represent geographical clustering of our cable systems into groups. The Company assesses qualitative factors to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances leads to a determination that it is more likely than not that an indefinite lived intangible asset has been impaired. If, after this qualitative assessment, the Company determines that it is not more likely than not that an indefinite lived intangible asset has been impaired, then no further quantitative testing is necessary. In completing the impairment testing, the Company evaluated the impact of various factors to the expected future cash flows attributable to its units of accounting and to the assumed discount rate which would be used to present value those cash flows. Such factors included macro-economic and industry conditions including the capital markets, regulatory, and competitive environment, and costs of programming and customer premise equipment along with changes to our organizational structure and strategies. After consideration of these qualitative factors, the Company concluded that it is more likely than not that the fair value of the franchise assets in each unit of accounting exceeds the carrying value of such assets and therefore did not perform a quantitative analysis in 2014, 2013 or 2012.

If the Company is required to perform a quantitative analysis to test its franchise assets for impairment, the Company determines the estimated fair value utilizing an income approach model based on the present value of the estimated discrete future cash flows attributable to each of the intangible assets identified assuming a discount rate. The fair value of franchises for impairment testing is determined based on estimated discrete discounted future cash flows using assumptions consistent with internal forecasts. The franchise after-tax cash flow is calculated as the after-tax cash flow generated by the potential customers obtained (less the anticipated customer churn), and the new services added to those customers in future periods. The sum of the present value of the franchises' after-tax cash flow in years 1 through 10 and the continuing value of the after-tax cash flow beyond year 10 yields the fair value of the franchises.

This approach makes use of unobservable factors such as projected revenues, expenses, capital expenditures, and a discount rate applied to the estimated cash flows. The determination of the discount rate is based on a weighted average cost of capital approach, which uses a market participant’s cost of equity and after-tax cost of debt and reflects the risks inherent in the cash flows. The Company estimates discounted future cash flows using reasonable and appropriate assumptions including among others, penetration rates for video, high-speed Internet, and voice; revenue growth rates; operating margins; and capital expenditures. The assumptions are based on the Company’s and its peers’ historical operating performance adjusted for current and expected competitive and economic factors surrounding the cable industry. The estimates and assumptions made in the Company’s valuations are inherently subject to significant uncertainties, many of which are beyond its control, and there is no assurance that these results can be achieved. The primary assumptions for which there is a reasonable possibility of the occurrence of a variation that would significantly affect the measurement value include the assumptions regarding revenue growth, programming expense growth rates, the amount and timing of capital expenditures and the discount rate utilized.

Goodwill is tested for impairment as of November 30 of each year, or more frequently as warranted by events or changes in circumstances. Accounting guidance also permits a qualitative assessment for goodwill to determine whether it is more likely than not that the carrying value of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value. If, after this qualitative assessment, the Company determines that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount then no further quantitative testing would be necessary. If the Company is required to perform the two-step test under the accounting guidance, the first step involves a comparison of the estimated fair value of each reporting unit to its carrying amount. If the estimated fair value of a reporting unit exceeds its carrying amount, goodwill of the reporting unit is not considered impaired and the second step of the goodwill impairment is not necessary. If the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds its estimated fair value, then the second step of the goodwill impairment test must be performed, and a comparison of the implied fair value of the reporting unit’s goodwill is compared to its carrying amount to determine the amount of impairment, if any. The fair value of the reporting unit, when performing the second step of the goodwill impairment test, is determined using a consistent income approach model as that used for franchise impairment testing. As with the Company's franchise impairment testing, the Company elected to perform a qualitative assessment for its goodwill impairment testing in 2014, 2013 and 2012 and concluded that goodwill is not impaired.

Customer relationships, for valuation purposes, represent the value of the business relationship with existing customers (less the anticipated customer churn), and are calculated by projecting the discrete future after-tax cash flows from these customers, including the right to deploy and market additional services to these customers. The present value of these after-tax cash flows yields the fair value of the customer relationships. The use of different valuation assumptions or definitions of franchises or customer relationships, such as our inclusion of the value of selling additional services to our current customers within customer relationships versus franchises, could significantly impact our valuations and any resulting impairment. Customer relationships are amortized on an accelerated method over useful lives of 8-15 years based on the period over which current customers are expected to generate cash flows. Customer relationships are evaluated for impairment upon the occurrence of events or changes in circumstances indicating that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Customer relationships are deemed impaired when the carrying value exceeds the projected undiscounted future cash flows associated with the customer relationships. No impairment of customer relationships was recorded in the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 or 2012.

The fair value of trademarks is determined using the relief-from-royalty method which applies a fair royalty rate to estimated revenue. Royalty rates are estimated based on a review of market royalty rates in the communications and entertainment industries. As the Company expects to continue to use each trademark indefinitely, trademarks have been assigned an indefinite life and are tested annually for impairment using either a qualitative analysis or quantitative analysis as elected by management. The qualitative analysis did not identify any factors that would indicate that it was more likely than not that the fair value of trademarks were less than the carrying value and thus resulted in no impairment in 2014, 2013 or 2012.

As of December 31, 2014 and 2013, indefinite lived and finite-lived intangible assets are presented in the following table:



	December 31,
	2014						2013
	Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization		Net Carrying Amount		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization		Net Carrying Amount

Indefinite lived intangible assets:
Franchises	$	6,006	$	—	$	6,006	$	6,009	$	—	$	6,009
Goodwill	1,168		—		1,168		1,177		—		1,177
Trademarks	159		—		159		158		—		158
Other intangible assets	4		—		4		4		—		4

	$	7,337	$	—	$	7,337	$	7,348	$	—	$	7,348

Finite-lived intangible assets:
Customer relationships	$	2,616	$	1,511	$	1,105	$	2,617	$	1,228	$	1,389
Other intangible assets	151		60		91		130		44		86
	$	2,767	$	1,571	$	1,196	$	2,747	$	1,272	$	1,475

Amortization expense related to customer relationships and other intangible assets for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012 was $299 million, $299 million and $293 million, respectively.

The Company expects amortization expense on its finite-lived intangible assets will be as follows.



2015	$	267
2016	234
2017	200
2018	165
2019	131
Thereafter	199

	$	1,196

Actual amortization expense in future periods could differ from these estimates as a result of new intangible asset acquisitions or divestitures, changes in useful lives, impairments and other relevant factors.