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BASIS OF PRESENTATION
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2015
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
BASIS OF PRESENTATION
NOTE 2.    BASIS OF PRESENTATION
The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Cablevision and CSC Holdings have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X for interim financial information.  Accordingly, these financial statements do not include all the information and notes required for complete annual financial statements.
The interim condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014.
The financial statements as of September 30, 2015 and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014 presented in this Form 10-Q are unaudited; however, in the opinion of management, such financial statements include all adjustments, consisting solely of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the periods presented.
The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements of Cablevision include the accounts of Cablevision and its majority-owned subsidiaries and the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements of CSC Holdings include the accounts of CSC Holdings and its majority-owned subsidiaries. Cablevision has no business operations independent of its CSC Holdings subsidiary, whose operating results and financial position are consolidated into Cablevision.  The condensed consolidated balance sheets and statements of income of Cablevision are essentially identical to the condensed consolidated balance sheets and statements of income of CSC Holdings, with the following significant exceptions: Cablevision has $2,795,080 principal value of senior notes outstanding at September 30, 2015 (excluding the $611,455 aggregate principal amount of Cablevision notes held by Newsday Holdings that were issued to third party investors, cash, deferred financing costs and accrued interest related to its senior notes, deferred taxes and accrued dividends on its balance sheet.  In addition, CSC Holdings and its subsidiaries have certain intercompany receivables from and payables to Cablevision.  Differences between Cablevision's results of operations and those of CSC Holdings primarily include incremental interest expense, interest income, the write-off of deferred financing costs, net of gain on extinguishment of debt, and income tax expense or benefit.  CSC Holdings' results of operations include incremental interest income from the Cablevision senior notes held by Newsday Holdings, which is eliminated in Cablevision's results of operations.
The combined notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements relate to the Company, which, except as noted, are essentially identical for Cablevision and CSC Holdings.  All significant intercompany transactions and balances between Cablevision and CSC Holdings and their respective consolidated subsidiaries are eliminated in both sets of condensed consolidated financial statements.  Intercompany transactions between Cablevision and CSC Holdings are not eliminated in the CSC Holdings condensed consolidated financial statements, but are eliminated in the Cablevision condensed consolidated financial statements.
The results of operations for the interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results that might be expected for future interim periods or for the full year ending December 31, 2015.
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.  Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncement
In April 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2014-08, Presentation of Financial Statements (Topic 205) and Property, Plant, and Equipment (Topic 360):  Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity. The amendments in ASU No. 2014-08 change the criteria for reporting discontinued operations while enhancing certain disclosures.  Under ASU No. 2014-08, only disposals representing a strategic shift that has (or will have) a major effect on an entity's operations and financial results should be presented as discontinued operations.  In addition, ASU No. 2014-08 requires expanded disclosures about discontinued operations and disposals of individually significant components that do not qualify as discontinued operations.  ASU No. 2014-08 was adopted by the Company on January 1, 2015 and did not have any impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.
Recently Issued But Not Yet Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, requiring an entity to recognize the amount of revenue to which it expects to be entitled for the transfer of promised goods or services to customers. ASU No. 2014-09 will replace most existing revenue recognition guidance in GAAP when it becomes effective and allows the use of either the retrospective or cumulative effect transition method. In August 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-14 that approved deferring the effective date by one year so that ASU No. 2014-09 would become effective for the Company on January 1, 2018. The FASB also approved, in July 2015, permitting the early adoption of ASU No. 2014-09, but not before the original effective date for the Company as of January 1, 2017. The Company has not yet completed the evaluation of the effect that ASU No. 2014-09 will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-03, Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs, which requires debt issuance costs to be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying value of the associated debt liability, consistent with the presentation of a debt discount. In August 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-15, Presentation and Subsequent Measurement of Debt Issuance Costs Associated with Line-of-Credit Arrangements, which clarifies the treatment of debt issuance costs from line-of-credit arrangements after adoption of ASU No. 2015-03. ASU No. 2015-15 clarifies that the Securities and Exchange Commission staff would not object to an entity deferring and presenting debt issuance costs as an asset and subsequently amortizing the deferred debt issuance costs ratably over the term of the line-of-credit arrangement, regardless of whether there are any outstanding borrowings on the line-of-credit arrangement. ASU No. 2015-03 becomes effective for the Company on January 1, 2016 and will be applied on a retrospective basis. The Company does not believe ASU No. 2015-03 will have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements upon adoption.
In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-05, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other-Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Fees Paid in a Cloud Computing Arrangement. ASU No. 2015-05 provides guidance to customers about whether a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license. If a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license, then the customer should account for the software license element of the arrangement consistent with the acquisition of other software licenses. If a cloud computing arrangement does not include a software license, the customer should account for the arrangement as a service contract. The new guidance becomes effective for the Company on January 1, 2016 with early adoption permitted. The Company can elect to adopt ASU No. 2015-05 prospectively to all arrangements entered into or materially modified after the effective date or retrospectively. The Company does not believe ASU No. 2015-05 will have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements upon adoption on January 1, 2016.