Note 7 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Notes to Financial Statements

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Text Block]

7. GOODWILL AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS

The carrying amount of goodwill was $429.6 million and $172.1 million at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Goodwill of $185.9 million was recognized upon the acquisition of Clearwave in January 2019 and goodwill of $71.6 million was recognized upon the acquisition of Fidelity in October 2019. The Company has not historically recorded any impairment of goodwill.

Intangible assets consisted of the following (dollars in thousands):

				December 31, 2019						December 31, 2018
	Useful Life Range (in years)			Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization		Net Carrying Amount		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization		Net Carrying Amount
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets
Franchise renewals	1	–	25	$	2,927	$	2,895	$	32	$	2,927	$	2,887	$	40
Customer relationships	14	–	17		362,000		37,470		324,530		160,000		19,047		140,953
Trademarks and trade names	2.4	–	3		4,300		1,552		2,748		1,300		813		487
Total finite-lived intangible assets				$	369,227	$	41,917	$	327,310	$	164,227	$	22,747	$	141,480
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets
Franchise agreements								$	978,371					$	812,371
Trade name									6,700						-
Total indefinite-lived intangible assets								$	985,071					$	812,371
Total intangible assets, net								$	1,312,381					$	953,851

Intangible asset amortization expense was $19.2 million, $11.7 million and $8.0 million in 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

As of December 31, 2019, the future amortization of existing finite-lived intangible assets was as follows (in thousands):

Year Ending December 31,	Amount
2020	$	25,817
2021		25,817
2022		25,566
2023		24,816
2024		24,816
Thereafter		200,478
Total	$	327,310

Actual amortization expense in future periods may differ from the amounts above as a result of intangible asset acquisitions or divestitures, changes in useful life estimates, impairments or other relevant factors.