| Commitments and Contingencies |
Commitments and Contingencies
Movie License and Internet Protocol Television (“IPTV”) Commitments
In the ordinary course of business, we have long-term commitments, such as license fees and guaranteed minimum payments owed to content providers. In addition, we have long-term arrangements with service and television providers to license and provide content and IPTV services that are subject to future guaranteed minimum payments from us to the licensor.
The following is a schedule of future unconditional minimum commitments under movie and IPTV arrangements as of December 31, 2017 (in thousands):
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Year Ending December 31, |
Amount |
2018 |
$ |
30,295 |
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2019 |
17,984 |
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2020 |
9,397 |
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2021 |
3,486 |
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2022 |
500 |
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Thereafter |
— |
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Total minimum payments |
$ |
61,662 |
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Operating Lease Commitments
The Company leases its operating facilities under non-cancelable operating leases that expire on various dates through 2025. Certain operating leases provide us with the option to renew for additional periods. Where operating leases contain escalation clauses, rent abatements, and/or concessions, such as rent holidays and landlord or tenant incentives or allowances, we apply them in the determination of straight-line rent expense over the lease term. Some of our operating leases require the payment of real estate taxes or other occupancy costs, which may be subject to escalation. The Company also leases some facilities and vehicles under month-to-month arrangements.
The following is a schedule of future minimum lease payments under operating leases as of December 31, 2017 (in thousands):
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Year Ending December 31, |
Amount |
2018 |
$ |
5,618 |
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2019 |
4,758 |
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2020 |
3,472 |
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2021 |
3,373 |
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2022 |
2,942 |
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Thereafter |
5,023 |
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Total minimum lease payments |
$ |
25,186 |
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Total rent expense for the year ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015 was $7.3 million, $5.6 million and $4.4 million, respectively. We are responsible for certain operating expenses in connection with these leases.
Capital Leases
The Company leases certain computer software and equipment under capital leases that expire on various dates through 2020. The current portion and non-current portion of capital lease obligations are included in Current portion of long-term debt and Long-term debt, respectively, on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. As of December 31, 2017, future minimum lease payments under these capital leases were as follows (in thousands):
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Year Ending December 31, |
Amount |
2018 |
$ |
931 |
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2019 |
772 |
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2020 |
371 |
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Total minimum lease payments |
2,074 |
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Less: amount representing interest |
(108 |
) |
Present value of net minimum lease payments |
1,966 |
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Less current portion |
(874 |
) |
Capital lease obligation, non-current |
$ |
1,092 |
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Satellite Capacity Commitments
The Company maintains agreements with satellite service providers to provide for satellite capacity. The Company expenses these satellite fees in the month the service is provided as a charge to licensing and services cost of sales.
In connection with the EMC Acquisition, the Company assumed several contractual commitments for satellite services. During the third quarter of 2016, EMC entered into an amendment to its existing service agreement with one of its satellite service providers. Under this amendment, the amount of committed satellite bandwidth was significantly increased and our total contract commitment was increased by $40 million.
The following is a schedule of future unconditional minimum satellite costs as of December 31, 2017 (in thousands):
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Year Ending December 31, |
Amount |
2018 |
$ |
106,101 |
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2019 |
93,951 |
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2020 |
71,267 |
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2021 |
39,595 |
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2022 |
35,658 |
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Thereafter |
125,534 |
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Total minimum payments |
$ |
472,106 |
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Other Commitments
In connection with the EMC Acquisition, the Company was obligated to pay the EMC seller up to an additional $25.0 million on the first anniversary date in, at the Company’s option, (a) cash, (b) newly issued shares of Company common stock or (c) a combination of cash and newly issued shares of Company common stock. On July 27, 2017, we elected to satisfy this obligation wholly in newly issued shares of our common stock, and satisfied the obligation by issuing 5,080,049 shares of common stock at that time to the EMC seller.
Through the acquisitions of WOI, RMG, masFlight and navAero in 2015, the Company agreed to future contingent earn-out obligations relating to future performance of those businesses. As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, the total liability was approximately $0.1 million and $2.0 million, respectively, with potential payouts on specified dates through 2020.
In the normal course of business, the Company enters into future purchase commitments with some of its connectivity vendors to secure future inventory for its airlines customers and the development pertaining to engineering and antenna projects. At December 31, 2017, the Company also had outstanding letters of credit in the amount of $7.1 million, of which $6.0 million issued under the letter of credit facility under the 2017 Credit Agreement. See Note 8. Financing Arrangements.
Contingencies
We are subject to various legal proceedings and claims that have arisen in the ordinary course of business and that have not been fully adjudicated. We record accruals for loss contingencies when our management concludes it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the related loss can be reasonably estimated. On a regular basis, our management evaluates developments in legal proceedings and other matters that could cause an increase or decrease in the amount of the liability that has been accrued previously. While it is not possible to accurately predict or determine the eventual outcomes of these matters, an adverse determination in one or more of these matters could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows. Some of our legal proceedings as well as other matters that our management believes could become significant are discussed below:
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Music Infringement and Related Claims. On May 6, 2014, UMG Recordings, Inc., Capitol Records, Universal Music Corp. and entities affiliated with the foregoing (collectively, “UMG”) filed suit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against us and Inflight Productions Ltd. (“IFP”) for copyright infringement and related claims and unspecified money damages. IFP is a direct subsidiary of Global Entertainment AG (formally AIA) and as such is our indirect subsidiary. In August 2016, we entered into settlement agreements with major record labels and publishers, including UMG, to settle music copyright infringement and related claims (the “Sound Recording Settlements”). As a result of the Sound Recording Settlements, we paid approximately $18.0 million in cash and issued approximately 1.8 million shares of our common stock to settle lawsuits and other claims. Under the settlement agreement with UMG, we paid UMG an additional $5.0 million in cash in March 2017 and agreed to issue 500,000 additional shares of our common stock when and if our closing price of our common stock exceeds $10.00 per share and 400,000 additional shares of our common stock when and if the closing price of our common stock exceeds $12.00 per share. In 2016, we received notices from several other music rights holders and associations acting on their behalf regarding potential claims that we infringed their music rights and the rights of artists that they represent. To date, none of these rights holders or associations has initiated litigation against us. We believe that a loss relating to these matters is probable, but we believe that it is unlikely to be material and therefore have accrued an immaterial reserve for these loss contingencies. If initiated however, we intend to vigorously defend ourselves against these claims.
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SwiftAir Litigation. On August 14, 2014, SwiftAir, LLC filed suit against our wholly owned subsidiary Row 44 and one of its airline customers for breach of contract, quantum meruit, unjust enrichment and similar claims and money damages in the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles. SwiftAir and Row 44 had a contractual relationship whereby Row 44 agreed to give SwiftAir access to its portal for one of its airline customers so that SwiftAir could market its destination deal product to the airline customer’s passengers. In 2013, after Row 44’s customer decided not to proceed with SwiftAir’s destination deal product, Row 44 terminated the contract. In its lawsuit, SwiftAir seeks approximately $9 million in monetary damages against Row 44 and its airline customer. The Court has scheduled the trial for this matter in September 2018. We believe that a material loss relating to this matter is reasonably possible, but we are currently unable to estimate the amount of the potential loss at this time due to the speculative nature of the claimed damages and the varying theories under which damages could be measured, and as such have not accrued a reserve for this loss contingency. We intend to vigorously defend ourselves against this claim.
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STM Litigation. On April 12, 2016, STM Atlantic N.V. and STM Group, Inc. (jointly, the “STM Sellers”) filed a breach-of-contract action in Delaware Superior Court against EMC relating to EMC’s 2013 acquisition of STM Norway AS, STMEA (FZE), Vodanet Telecomuniçacões Ltda. and STM Networks from the STM Sellers. The STM Sellers alleged, among other things, that EMC breached earn-out provisions in the purchase agreement by failing to develop and sell sat-link technology following the acquisition closing. We believed that a material loss relating to this matter was reasonably possible, but we were previously unable to estimate the amount of such loss, and as such did not accrue a reserve for this loss contingency. In February 2018, EMC settled the lawsuit with STM Sellers, and pursuant to the purchase agreement whereby we purchased the EMC business, the seller of the EMC business indemnified us in full for this claim and all related legal expenses.
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Securities Class Action Litigation. On February 23, 2017 and on March 17, 2017, following our announcement that we anticipated a delay in our 2016 Form 10-K filing and that our former CEO and former CFO would separate from us, three putative securities class action lawsuits were filed in United States District Court for the Central District of California. These lawsuits alleged violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act against us, our former CEO and two of our former CFOs. The plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed two of these lawsuits. The third lawsuit, brought by putative stockholder M&M Hart Living Trust and Randi Williams (the “Hart complaint”), alleged that we and the other defendants made misrepresentations and/or omitted material information about the EMC Acquisition, our projected financial performance and synergies following that acquisition, and the impact of that acquisition on our internal controls over financial reporting. The plaintiffs sought unspecified damages, attorneys’ fees and costs. On November 2, 2017, the Court granted our and the other defendants’ motion to dismiss the Hart complaint, and dismissed the action with prejudice. On November 30, 2017, the plaintiffs filed a motion to alter or amend the Court’s previous judgment of dismissal to permit them to file a further amended complaint. On January 8, 2018 the Court denied the plaintiffs’ motion to alter or amend the previous judgment. On January 29, 2018, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from the Court’s denial of the plaintiffs’ motion to alter or amend the judgment. We believe that a loss relating to this matter is probable, but we believe that it is unlikely to be material and therefore have accrued an immaterial reserve for this loss contingency. We intend to vigorously defend ourselves against this claim.
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In addition, from time to time, we are or may be party to various additional legal matters incidental to the conduct of our business. Some of the outstanding legal matters include speculative claims for indeterminate amounts of damages, for which we have not recorded any contingency reserve. Additionally, we have determined that other legal matters are likely not material to our financial statements, and as such have not discussed those matters above. Although we cannot predict with certainty the ultimate resolution of these speculative and immaterial matters, based on our current knowledge, we do not believe that the outcome of any of these matters will have a material adverse effect on our financial statements.
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