NOTE 4 – SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURES

Divestiture Trusts

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.

Income Tax Benefit

The Company's income tax benefit for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, consisted of the following components:


(In thousands)	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2012		2011
Current tax benefit	$	58,960	$	31,995
Deferred tax benefit		98,438		60,666

Income tax benefit	$	157,398	$	92,661

The effective tax rate is the provision for income taxes as a percent of income before income taxes. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2012 was 51.5%. The 2012 effective tax rate was primarily impacted by the completion of income tax examinations in various jurisdictions during the quarter, resulting in a reduction to income tax expense of approximately $61.0 million.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2011 was 41.4%. The 2011 effective tax rate was primarily impacted by the Company's settlement of U.S. federal and state tax examinations during the quarter. Pursuant to the settlements, the Company recorded a reduction to income tax expense of approximately $10.2 million to reflect the net tax benefits of the settlements. In addition, the effective rate was impacted by the Company's ability to benefit from certain tax loss carryforwards in foreign jurisdictions due to taxable income where the losses previously did not provide a benefit.

During the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, cash paid for interest and income taxes, net of income tax refunds of $0.6 million and $0.5 million, respectively, was as follows:


(In thousands)	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2012		2011
Interest	$	412,460	$	345,110
Income taxes		18,935		30,614