Employee Benefit Plans (Notes)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2017

The Company sponsors two qualified defined benefit pension plans, the TWC Pension Plan and the TWC Union Pension Plan, that provide pension benefits to a majority of Legacy TWC employees. The Company also provides a nonqualified defined benefit pension plan for certain employees under the TWC Excess Pension Plan.

Pension benefits are based on formulas that reflect the employees’ years of service and compensation during their employment period. Actuarial gains or losses are changes in the amount of either the benefit obligation or the fair value of plan assets resulting from experience different from that assumed or from changes in assumptions. The Company has elected to follow a mark-to-market pension accounting policy for recording the actuarial gains or losses annually during the fourth quarter, or earlier if a remeasurement event occurs during an interim period.

The components of net periodic pension benefit for the three and six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2016 consisted of the following:



	Three Months Ended June 30,						Six Months Ended June 30,
	2017			2016			2017			2016
Service cost	$	—		$	35		$	—		$	35
Interest cost	34			21			$	68		$	21
Expected return on plan assets	(47		)	(23		)	(94		)	(23		)
Pension curtailment gain	—			(675		)	—			(675		)
Remeasurement loss, net	—			157			—			157
Net periodic pension benefit	$	(13	)	$	(485	)	$	(26	)	$	(485	)

The service cost component of net periodic pension benefit is recorded in operating costs and expenses in the consolidated statements of operations while the remaining components of net periodic pension benefit are recorded in other pension benefits. The $675 million pension curtailment gain and $157 million net remeasurement loss resulted from an amendment to the plans made subsequent to the TWC Transaction. During the second quarter of 2016, the Company amended the pension plans to freeze future benefit accruals to current active plan participants, driving the recognition of the pension curtailment gain, as no future compensation increases or future service will be credited to participants of the pension plans. Upon announcement and approval of the plan amendment, the assumptions underlying the pension liability and pension asset values were reassessed utilizing remeasurement date assumptions in accordance with the Company's mark-to-market pension accounting policy to record gains and losses in the period in which a remeasurement event occurs, resulting in the net remeasurement loss.

The Company made no cash contributions to the qualified pension plans during the three and six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2016; however, the Company may make discretionary cash contributions to the qualified pension plans in the future. Such contributions will be dependent on a variety of factors, including current and expected interest rates, asset performance, the funded status of the qualified pension plans and management’s judgment. For the nonqualified unfunded pension plan, the Company will continue to make contributions during 2017 to the extent benefits are paid.