Property and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Property Plant And Equipment [Abstract]

8. PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

Property and equipment as of December 31, 2018 and 2017 consists of (in millions):

	Estimated useful life (years)			2018		2017
Buildings	39		$	21.8	$	22.4
Construction in progress		—		10.0		4.6
Transmission, studio and other broadcast equipment	5-15			151.3		145.9
Office and computer equipment	3-7			30.6		28.9
Transportation equipment	5			6.3		6.4
Leasehold improvements and land improvements	Lesser of lease life or useful life			23.0		22.7
				243.0		230.9
Less accumulated depreciation				187.4		179.9
				55.6		51.0
Land				9.3		9.3
			$	64.9	$	60.3

Depreciation expense was $10.1 million, $10.5 million, and $11.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

As part of the FCC auction for broadcast spectrum (see Note 4), the FCC has reassigned some stations to new post-auction channels and will reimburse station owners for the cost of the relocation. The Company has received notification from the FCC that 16 of its stations have been assigned to new channels with an estimated reimbursable cost of approximately $9.8 million. For the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 total costs of $1.2 million and $0.3 million, respectively, were incurred and reimbursed in connection with the required relocation of certain television stations to a different channel as part of the broadcast television repack following the FCC auction for broadcast spectrum. The Company recorded gains on involuntary conversion associated with the repack process of $1.2 million and $0.3 million in 2018 and 2017, respectively.