Note 2 - Revenue

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Notes to Financial Statements

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Text Block]

2. Revenue

Revenue Recognition. We recognize revenue when we have completed a specified service and effectively transferred the control of that service to a customer in return for an amount of consideration we expect to be entitled to receive. The amount of revenue recognized is determined by the amount of consideration specified in a contract with our customers. We have elected to exclude taxes assessed by a governmental authority on transactions with our customers from our revenue. Any unremitted balance is included in current liabilities on our balance sheet.

We record a deposit liability for cash deposits received from our customers that are to be applied as payment once the performance obligation arises and is satisfied in the manner stated above. These deposits are recorded as deposit liabilities on our balance sheet. When we invoice our customers for completed performance obligations, we are unconditionally entitled to receive payment of the invoiced amounts. Therefore, we record invoiced amounts in accounts receivable on our balance sheet. We require amounts payable under advertising contracts with our political advertising customers to be paid for in advance. We record the receipt of this cash as a deposit liability. Once the advertisement has been broadcast, the revenue is earned, and we record the revenue and reduce the balance in this deposit liability account. We recorded $9 million of revenue in the nine months ended September 30, 2020 that was included in the deposit liability balance as of December 31, 2019. The deposit liability balance is included in deferred revenue on our condensed consolidated balance sheets. The deposit liability balance was $43 million and $9 million as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively.

Disaggregation of Revenue. Revenue from our production companies segment is generated through our direct sales channel. Revenue from our broadcast and other segment is generated through both our direct and advertising agency intermediary sales channels. The following table presents our revenue from contracts with customers disaggregated by type of service and sales channel (in millions):

	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2020		2019		2020		2019
Market and service type:
Advertising:
Local	$	188	$	218	$	549	$	655
National		49		56		136		162
Political		128		22		185		30
Total advertising		365		296		870		847
Retransmission consent		217		196		650		601
Production companies		11		16		32		62
Other		11		9		37		33
Total revenue	$	604	$	517	$	1,589	$	1,543
Sales channel:
Direct	$	316	$	306	$	948	$	946
Advertising agency intermediary		288		211		641		597
Total revenue	$	604	$	517	$	1,589	$	1,543