Variable Interest Entities

Certain of the Company's broadcast stations provide services to other station owners within the same market via Joint Sales Agreements ("JSA") and/or Shared Service Agreements ("SSA"). The Company has JSA and/or SSA agreements with 8 stations. Depending on the specific terms of these agreements, the Company may provide a variety of operational and administrative services, assume an obligation to reimburse certain expenses of the stations and guarantee certain external borrowings by the station parent companies (refer to Note 6 for guaranteed borrowings). The Company is compensated for these services through performance based and/or administrative fees. Under certain JSAs, the Company has an option to acquire the related station at any time, subject to FCC consent, until the expiration of the applicable JSA. The Company has determined that the stations with which it has JSAs and/or SSAs, and certain of their parent companies, are VIEs as a result of the terms of the agreements.

The Company is the primary beneficiary of the VIEs, because (a) subject to the ultimate control of the broadcast licensees, the Company has the power to direct the activities which significantly impact the economic performance of the VIEs through the services the Company provides and (b) the Company absorbs returns and losses which would be considered significant to the VIEs. Therefore, the financial results and financial position of these entities have been consolidated by the Company in accordance with the VIE accounting guidance.

The carrying amounts and classification of the assets and liabilities of the consolidated VIE entities described above, which have been included in the consolidated balance sheets as of September 30, 2015, and December 31, 2014, were as follows:



(In thousands)	September 30, 2015		December 31, 2014
Assets
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	$	3,727	$	3,846
Trade accounts receivable (less allowance for doubtful accounts 2015 - $102; 2014 - $99)	9,010		10,442
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	886		1,050
Total current assets	13,623		15,338
Property and equipment, net	1,890		5,402
Other assets, net	3,498		2,011
Definite lived intangible assets, net	33,011		34,885
Broadcast licenses	71,300		71,300
Goodwill	21,859		21,859
Total assets	$	145,181	$	150,795
Liabilities
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	$	119	$	56
Other accrued expenses and other current liabilities	2,414		6,839
Current installments of long-term debt	3,120		3,562
Total current liabilities	5,653		10,457
Long-term debt	25,920		28,150
Other liabilities	6,802		3,914
Total liabilities	$	38,375	$	42,521

The December 31, 2014 balances included above were adjusted to reflect the purchase price adjustment discussed in Note 2.

The assets of the Company’s consolidated VIEs can only be used to settle the obligations of the VIEs and may not be sold, or otherwise disposed of, except for assets sold or replaced with others of like kind or value. At September 30, 2015, the Company has an option to acquire the assets or member's interest of the VIE entities that it may exercise if the FCC attribution rules change to permit the Company to acquire such interest. The option exercise price is of nominal value and significantly less than the carrying value of their tangible and intangible net assets. The options are carried at zero on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet, as any value attributable to the options is eliminated in the consolidation of the VIEs. In an order adopted in March 2014, the FCC concluded that JSAs should be “attributable” for purposes of the media ownership rules if they permit a television licensee to sell more than 15% of the commercial inventory of a television station owned by a third party in the same market. Stations with JSAs that would put them in violation of the new rules have until December 19, 2016 to amend or terminate those arrangements, unless they are able to obtain a waiver of such rules. Accordingly, absent further developments, or the grant of waivers, the Company will be required to modify or terminate its existing JSAs no later than December 19, 2016. The Company continues to monitor regulatory developments and evaluate potential changes to its JSA and SSA arrangements.

In July 2015 the Company received bonus payments of $9 million from its consolidated VIEs and these funds became available to settle the obligations of the Company.