Leases

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

We determine if an arrangement contains a lease at the agreement’s inception. Our portfolio of leases primarily consists of leases for the use of corporate offices, station facilities, equipment and for antenna/transmitter sites. Our lease portfolio consists entirely of operating leases, with most of our leases having remaining terms of less than 15 years. Operating lease balances are included in our right-of-use assets, other accrued liabilities and operating lease liabilities on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Lease liabilities are calculated as of the lease commencement date based on the present value of lease payments to be made over the term of the lease. Our lease agreements often contain lease and non-lease components (e.g., common-area maintenance or other executory costs). We include the non-lease payments in the calculation of our lease liabilities to the extent they are either fixed or included within the fixed base rental payments. Some of our leases include variable lease components (e.g., rent increases based on the consumer price index) and variable non-lease components, which are expensed as they are incurred. Such variable costs are not material. The interest rate implicit in our lease contracts is typically not readily determinable. As a result, we use our estimated incremental borrowing rate in determining the present value of future payments, which reflects the fixed rate at which we could borrow on a collateralized basis the amount of the lease payments for a similar term.

The operating lease right-of-use asset as of the lease commencement date is calculated based on the amount of the operating lease liability, less any lease incentive. Some of our lease agreements include options to renew for additional terms or provide us with the ability to terminate the lease early. In determining the term of the lease, we consider whether or not we are reasonably certain to exercise these options. Lease expense for fixed lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

The following table presents lease related assets and liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 (in thousands):


	Dec. 31,
	2023		2022
Assets
Right-of-use assets for operating leases	$	73,479	$	78,448

Liabilities
Operating lease liabilities (current)1	$	11,912	$	11,491
Operating lease liabilities (non-current)	73,733		79,503
Total operating lease liabilities	$	85,645	$	90,994

(1) Current operating lease liabilities are included within the other accrued liabilities line item of the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the weighted-average remaining lease term for our lease portfolio was 7.6 and 8.4 years, respectively, and the weighted average discount rate used to calculate the present value of our lease liabilities was 5.2% and 5.0%, respectively.

For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, we recognized lease expense of $16.2 million, $16.7 million, and $17.8 million respectively. In addition, in 2023, 2022 and 2021, we made cash payments for operating leases of $17.1 million, $17.6 million and $18.5 million, respectively, which are included in cash flows from operating activities on the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

The table below reconciles future lease payments for each of the next five years and remaining years thereafter, in aggregate, to the lease liabilities recorded on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2023 (in thousands):


Future Period	Cash Payments
2024	$	16,516
2025	15,048
2026	13,112
2027	12,831
2028	12,523
Thereafter	36,009
Total lease payments	106,039
Less: amount of lease payments representing interest	20,394
Present value of lease liabilities	$	85,645