NOTE 8.

PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

Costs incurred in the construction of the Company's cable television system, including line extensions to, and upgrade of, the Company's hybrid fiber-coaxial infrastructure and headend facilities are capitalized. These costs consist of materials, subcontractor labor, direct consulting fees, and internal labor and related costs associated with the construction activities. The internal costs that are capitalized consist of salaries and benefits of the Company's employees and the portion of facility costs, including rent, taxes, insurance and utilities, that supports the construction activities. These costs are depreciated over the estimated life of the plant (10 to 25 years), and headend facilities (4 to 25 years). Costs of operating the plant and the technical facilities, including repairs and maintenance, are expensed as incurred.

Costs incurred to connect businesses or residences that have not been previously connected to the infrastructure or digital platform are also capitalized. These costs include materials, subcontractor labor, internal labor to connect, provision and provide on-site and remote technical assistance and other related costs associated with the connection activities. In addition, on-site and remote technical assistance during the provisioning process for new digital product offerings are capitalized. The departmental activities supporting the connection process are tracked through specific metrics, and the portion of departmental costs that is capitalized is determined through a time weighted activity allocation of costs incurred based on time studies used to estimate the average time spent on each activity. New connections are amortized over the estimated useful lives of 5 years or 12 years for residence wiring and feeder cable to the home, respectively. The portion of departmental costs related to reconnection, programming service up- and down- grade, repair and maintenance, and disconnection activities are expensed as incurred.

Property, plant and equipment (including equipment under capital leases) consist of the following assets, which are depreciated or amortized on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives shown below:

	December 31,						Estimated
	2011			2010			Useful Lives

Customer equipment	$	2,371,584		$	2,293,637		2 to 5 years
Headends and related equipment		1,194,608			1,024,480		3 to 25 years
Central office equipment		695,424			655,953		3 to 10 years
Infrastructure		5,682,079			5,558,949		3 to 25 years
Equipment and software		1,373,891			1,255,762		2 to 10 years
Construction in progress (including materials and supplies)		109,617			68,138
Furniture and fixtures		156,944			160,221		3 to 12 years
Transportation equipment		210,238			196,485		3 to 20 years
Buildings and building improvements		264,543			246,393		10 to 40 years
Leasehold improvements		404,071			438,554		Term of lease
Land		27,927			27,902
		12,490,926			11,926,474
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization		(9,221,694	)		(8,564,884	)
	$	3,269,232		$	3,361,590

Depreciation expense on property, plant and equipment (including capital leases) for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 amounted to $945,403, $859,750 and $897,539 (including impairments of $2,506, $1,803 and $1,436 in 2011, 2010 and 2009), respectively. In addition, the Company acquired $78,073 and $54,414 of property and equipment that was accrued but unpaid at December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

At December 31, 2011 and 2010, the gross amount of equipment and related accumulated amortization recorded under capital leases were as follows:

	December 31,
	2011			2010

Equipment	$	57,271		$	42,790
Less accumulated amortization		(27,409	)		(21,325	)
	$	29,862		$	21,465