Property, Plant And Equipment, Intangible Assets And Goodwill

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Property, Plant And Equipment, Intangible Assets And Goodwill

Property, Plant And Equipment, Intangible Assets And Goodwill

NOTE 2 — PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT, INTANGIBLE ASSETS AND GOODWILL

Acquisitions

On April 29, 2011, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company purchased the traffic business of Westwood One, Inc. ("Westwood One") for $24.3 million. Immediately after closing, the acquired subsidiaries repaid pre-existing, intercompany debt owed by the subsidiaries to Westwood One in the amount of $95.0 million. The acquisition resulted in an increase of $17.2 million to property, plant and equipment, $36.3 million to intangible assets and $66.0 million to goodwill.

Property, Plant and Equipment

The Company's property, plant and equipment consisted of the following classes of assets at September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, respectively:

(In thousands)	September 30, 2011		December 31, 2010
Land, buildings and improvements	$	654,304	$	652,575
Structures		2,726,585		2,623,561
Towers, transmitters and studio equipment		393,775		397,434
Furniture and other equipment		341,192		282,385
Construction in progress		70,239		65,173
		4,186,095		4,021,128
Less: accumulated depreciation		1,148,880		875,574
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	3,037,215	$	3,145,554

Definite-lived Intangible Assets

The Company has definite-lived intangible assets which consist primarily of transit and street furniture contracts, talent and representation contracts, customer and advertiser relationships, and site-leases, all of which are amortized over the respective lives of the agreements, or over the period of time the assets are expected to contribute directly or indirectly to the Company's future cash flows. The Company periodically reviews the appropriateness of the amortization periods related to its definite-lived assets. These assets are recorded at cost.

The following table presents the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization for each major class of definite-lived intangible assets at September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, respectively:

(In thousands)	September 30, 2011			December 31, 2010
	Gross Carrying   Amount		Accumulated     Amortization	Gross Carrying   Amount		Accumulated     Amortization
Transit, street furniture and other outdoor contractual rights	$	777,362	$   296,016	$	789,867	$    241,461
Customer / advertiser relationships		1,210,269	374,799		1,210,205	289,824
Talent contracts		350,246	129,878		317,352	99,050
Representation contracts		232,578	129,619		231,623	101,650
Other		559,013	106,094		551,197	80,110
Total	$	3,129,468	$1,041,406	$	3,100,244	$    812,095

Total amortization expense related to definite-lived intangible assets was $87.8 million and $82.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively, and $247.3 million and $251.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

As acquisitions and dispositions occur in the future, amortization expense may vary. The following table presents the Company's estimate of amortization expense for each of the five succeeding fiscal years for definite-lived intangible assets:

(In thousands)
2012	$	301,450
2013		281,995
2014		260,841
2015		234,215
2016		215,362

Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets

The Company's indefinite-lived intangible assets consist of Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") broadcast licenses and billboard permits as follows:

(In thousands)	September 30, 2011		December 31, 2010
FCC broadcast licenses	$	2,411,602	$	2,423,828
Billboard permits		1,113,562		1,114,413
Total indefinite-lived intangible assets	$	3,525,164	$	3,538,241

Goodwill

The following table presents the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill in each of the Company's reportable segments.

(In thousands)	Radio			Americas Outdoor			International Outdoor			Other		Total
Balance as of December 31, 2009	$	3,146,869		$	585,249		$	276,343		$	116,544	$	4,125,005
Impairment		—			—			(2,142	)		—		(2,142	)
Acquisitions		—			—			—			342		342
Dispositions		(5,325	)		—			—			—		(5,325	)
Foreign currency		—			285			3,299			—		3,584
Other		(1,346	)		—			(792	)		—		(2,138	)
Balance as of December 31, 2010	$	3,140,198		$	585,534		$	276,708		$	116,886	$	4,119,326
Acquisitions		78,246			—			—			211		78,457
Dispositions		(10,422	)		—			—			—		(10,422	)
Foreign currency		—			(655	)		(2,097	)		—		(2,752	)
Other adjustments		(36	)		—			—			—		(36	)
Balance as of September 30, 2011	$	3,207,986		$	584,879		$	274,611		$	117,097	$	4,184,573