Franchises, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Policy

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. The Company has concluded that all of its franchises qualify for indefinite life treatment given that there are no legal, regulatory, contractual, competitive, economic or other factors which limit the period over which these rights will contribute

to the Company's cash flows. The Company reassesses this determination periodically or whenever events or substantive changes in circumstances occur.

All franchises are tested for impairment annually or more frequently as warranted by events or changes in circumstances. Franchise assets are aggregated into essentially inseparable units of accounting to conduct valuations. The units of accounting generally represent geographical clustering of the Company's 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 optional 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 qualitative impairment testing, the Company evaluates a multitude of factors that affect the fair value of our franchise assets. Examples of such factors include environmental and competitive changes within our operating footprint, actual and projected operating performance, the consistency of our operating margins, equity and debt market trends, including changes in our market capitalization, and changes in our regulatory and political landscape, among other factors. The Company performed a qualitative assessment in 2019, which also included consideration of a fair value appraisal performed for tax purposes in the beginning of 2019 as of a December 31, 2018 valuation date (the "Appraisal"). After consideration of the qualitative factors in 2019, including the results of the Appraisal, 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 at the assessment date. Periodically, the Company will elect to perform a quantitative analysis for impairment testing. If the Company elects or is required to perform a quantitative analysis to test its franchise assets for impairment, the methodology described below is utilized.

If a quantitative analysis is performed, the estimated fair value of franchises is determined 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 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. 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, customer trends, and a discount rate applied to the estimated cash flows. The determination of the franchise discount rate is derived from the Company’s weighted average cost of capital, 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; 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, actual customer trends and the discount rate utilized.

The Company has determined that it has one reporting unit for purposes of the assessment of goodwill impairment. The fair value of the reporting unit is determined using both an income approach and market approach. The Company’s income approach model used for its reporting unit valuation is consistent with that used for its franchise valuation noted above except that cash flows from the entire business enterprise are used for the reporting unit valuation. The Company’s market approach model estimates the fair value of the reporting unit based on market prices in actual precedent transactions of similar businesses and market valuations of guideline public companies. 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 an optional 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. A quantitative assessment is performed if the qualitative assessment results in a more likely than not determination or if a qualitative assessment is not performed. The quantitative assessment considers whether the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value, in which case an impairment charge is recorded to the extent the reporting unit’s carrying value exceeds its fair value.  As with the Company’s franchise impairment testing, in 2019 the Company elected to perform a qualitative goodwill impairment assessment, which incorporated the results of the Appraisal and consideration of the same qualitative factors relevant to the Company's franchise impairment testing. As a result of that assessment, the Company concluded that goodwill is not impaired.

Customer relationships are recorded at fair value as of the date acquired less accumulated amortization. Customer relationships, for valuation purposes, represent the value of the business relationship with existing customers, 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 sum of years’ digits method over useful lives of 8-15 years based on the period over which current customers are expected to generate cash flows. The Company periodically evaluates the remaining useful lives of its customer relationships to determine whether events or circumstances warrant revision to the remaining periods of amortization. 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, 2019, 2018 or 2017.

The fair value of trademarks is determined using the relief-from-royalty method, a variation of the income approach, which applies a fair royalty rate to estimated revenue derived under the Company’s trademarks. The fair value of the intangible is estimated to be the present value of the royalty saved because the Company owns the trademarks. 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. As with the Company’s franchise impairment testing, in 2019 the Company elected to perform a qualitative trademark impairment assessment and concluded that trademarks are not impaired.