The Company owns certain radio stations which, under current FCC rules, are not permitted or transferable. These radio stations were placed in a trust in order to comply with FCC rules at the time of the closing of the merger that resulted in the Company's acquisition of Clear Channel. The Company is the beneficial owner of the trust, but the radio stations are managed by an independent trustee. The Company will have to divest all of these radio stations unless any stations may be owned by the Company under then-current FCC rules, in which case the trust will be terminated with respect to such stations. The trust agreement stipulates that the Company must fund any operating shortfalls of the trust activities, and any excess cash flow generated by the trust is distributed to the Company. The Company is also the beneficiary of proceeds from the sale of stations held in the trust. The Company consolidates the trust in accordance with ASC 810-10, which requires an enterprise involved with variable interest entities to perform an analysis to determine whether the enterprise's variable interest or interests give it a controlling financial interest in the variable interest entity, as the trust was determined to be a variable interest entity and the Company is its primary beneficiary.

The Company's income tax benefit for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, consisted of the following components:

(In thousands)		Three Months Ended				Six Months Ended
		June 30,				June 30,
		2012		2011		2012		2011
Current tax benefit (expense)	$	(16,481)	$	(21,045)	$	42,479	$	10,950
Deferred tax benefit		25,144		30,229		123,582		90,895
Income tax benefit	$	8,663	$	9,184	$	166,061	$	101,845

The effective tax rate for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 was 23.8% and 48.6%, respectively. The effective tax rate for the three months ended June 30, 2012 was primarily impacted by the Company's inability to record tax benefits for tax losses in certain foreign jurisdictions due to the uncertainty of the ability to utilize those losses in future periods. The effective tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2012 was primarily impacted by the completion of income tax examinations in various jurisdictions during the period which resulted in a reduction to income tax expense of approximately $61.0 million.

The effective tax rate for the three and six months ended June 30, 2011 was 19.5% and 37.6%, respectively. The effective tax rate for the three months ended June 30, 2011 was primarily impacted by the deferred tax expense recorded as a result of changes to tax rates and laws in certain domestic jurisdictions and the vesting of equity awards. The effective tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2011 was primarily impacted by the Company's settlement of U.S. federal and state tax examinations during the period. Pursuant to the settlements, the Company recorded a reduction to income tax expense of approximately $12.3 million to reflect the net tax benefits of the settlements. In addition, the effective rate for the six months ended June 30, 2011 was impacted by the Company's ability to benefit from certain tax loss carryforwards in foreign jurisdictions due to increased taxable income during 2011, where the losses previously did not provide a benefit.

During the six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, cash paid for interest and income taxes, net of income tax refunds of $0.9 million and $1.2 million, respectively, was as follows:

(In thousands)		Six Months Ended June 30,
		2012		2011
Interest	$	682,608	$	610,549
Income taxes		37,764		62,080