Property, Plant And Equipment, Intangible Assets And Goodwill

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Property, Plant And Equipment, Intangible Assets And Goodwill [Abstract]

Property, Plant And Equipment, Intangible Assets And Goodwill

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

Property, Plant and Equipment

The Company's property, plant and equipment consisted of the following classes of assets at March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively.

(In thousands)	March 31,		December 31,
	2012		2011
Land, buildings and improvements	$	661,254	$	657,346
Structures		2,841,035		2,783,434
Towers, transmitters and studio equipment		404,123		400,832
Furniture and other equipment		376,785		365,137
Construction in progress		82,616		68,658
		4,365,813		4,275,407
Less: accumulated depreciation		1,312,805		1,212,080
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	3,053,008	$	3,063,327

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 intangible 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 March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively:

(In thousands)	March 31, 2012				December 31, 2011
	Gross Carrying   Amount		Accumulated   Amortization		Gross Carrying   Amount		Accumulated   Amortization
Transit, street furniture and other outdoor contractual rights	$	786,624	$	356,247	$	773,238	$	329,563
Customer / advertiser relationships		1,210,244		436,846		1,210,269		409,794
Talent contracts		349,049		151,162		347,489		139,154
Representation contracts		236,953		146,137		237,451		137,058
Other		560,593		105,019		560,978		96,096
Total	$	3,143,463	$	1,195,411	$	3,129,425	$	1,111,665

Total amortization expense related to definite-lived intangible assets was $75.3 million and $79.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

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)
2013	$	282,741
2014		262,949
2015		237,582
2016		218,939
2017		190,814

Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets

The Company's indefinite-lived intangible assets consist of Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") broadcast licenses in its Media and Entertainment ("CCME") segment and billboard permits in its Americas outdoor advertising ("Americas outdoor") segment as follows:

(In thousands)	March 31,		December 31,
	2012		2011
FCC broadcast licenses	$	2,410,317	$	2,411,367
Billboard permits		1,107,110		1,105,704
Total indefinite-lived intangible assets	$	3,517,427	$	3,517,071

Goodwill

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

(In thousands)	CCME		Americas Outdoor  Advertising		International  Outdoor Advertising		Other		Consolidated
Balance as of December 31, 2010	$	3,140,198	$	571,932	$	290,310	$	116,886	$	4,119,326
Impairment		—		—		(1,146)		—		(1,146)
Acquisitions		82,844		—		2,995		212		86,051
Dispositions		(10,542)		—		—		—		(10,542)
Foreign currency		—		—		(6,898)		—		(6,898)
Other		(73)		—		—		—		(73)
Balance as of December 31, 2011	$	3,212,427	$	571,932	$	285,261	$	117,098	$	4,186,718
Acquisitions		188		—		—		—		188
Dispositions		(58)		—		—		—		(58)
Foreign currency		—		—		9,180		—		9,180
Other		(18)		—		—		—		(18)
Balance as of March 31, 2012	$	3,212,539	$	571,932	$	294,441	$	117,098	$	4,196,010