The Company's revenue consists of residential services, business services, advertising and other revenue.
Residential services revenue consists of (i) video revenue, including subscriber fees received from residential customers for the Company's various tiers or packages of video programming services, related equipment rental charges, installation charges and fees collected on behalf of local franchising authorities and the Federal Communications Commission, as well as revenue from the sale of premium networks, transactional video-on-demand (e.g., events and movies) and digital video recorder service; (ii) high-speed data revenue, including subscriber fees received from residential customers for the Company's high-speed data services and related equipment rental and installation charges; (iii) voice revenue, including subscriber fees received from residential customers for the Company's voice services, along with related installation charges, as well as fees collected on behalf of governmental authorities and (iv) other revenue, including revenue from security and home management services and other residential subscriber-related fees.
Business services revenue consists of (i) video revenue, including the same fee categories received from business video subscribers as described above under residential video revenue; (ii) high-speed data revenue, including subscriber fees received from business customers for the Company's high-speed data services and related installation charges, as well as amounts generated by the sale of commercial networking and point-to-point transport services, such as Metro Ethernet services; (iii) voice revenue, including subscriber fees received from business customers for the Company's voice services, along with related installation charges, as well as fees collected on behalf of governmental authorities; (iv) wholesale transport revenue, including amounts generated by the sale of point-to-point transport services offered to wireless telephone providers (i.e., cell tower backhaul) and other carriers and (v) other revenue, including revenue from enterprise-class, cloud-enabled hosting, managed applications and services and other business subscriber-related fees.
Residential and business services subscriber fees are recorded as revenue in the period during which the service is provided. Residential and business services revenue received from subscribers who purchase bundled services at a discounted rate is allocated to each product in a pro-rata manner based on the individual product's selling price (generally, the price at which the product is regularly sold on a standalone basis). Revenue recognition for bundled services is discussed further in “—Multiple-element Transactions—Sales of Multiple Products or Services” below. Installation revenue obtained from subscriber service connections is recognized as a component of residential and business services revenue when the connections are completed, as installation revenue recognized is less than the related direct selling costs.
Video programming, high-speed data connectivity and voice network costs are recorded as the services are provided. Video programming costs are recorded based on the Company's contractual agreements with its programming vendors, which are generally multi-year agreements that provide for the Company to make payments to the programming vendors at agreed upon rates based on the number of subscribers to which the Company provides the programming service. If a programming contract expires prior to the parties' entry into a new agreement and the Company continues to distribute the service, management estimates the programming costs during contract negotiations. In doing so, management considers the previous contractual rates, inflation and the status of the negotiations in determining its estimates. When the programming contract terms are finalized, an adjustment to programming expense is recorded, if necessary, to reflect the terms of the new contract. Management also makes estimates in the recognition of programming expense related to other items, such as the accounting for free periods and credits from service interruptions, as well as the allocation of consideration exchanged between the parties in multiple-element transactions. Additionally, judgments are also required by management when the Company purchases multiple services from the same programming vendor. In these scenarios, the total consideration provided to the programming vendor is allocated to the various services received based upon their respective estimated fair values. Because multiple services from the same programming vendor may be received over different contractual periods and may have different contractual rates, the allocation of consideration to the individual services may have an impact on the timing of the Company's expense recognition. Accounting for consideration exchanged between the parties in multiple-element transactions is discussed further in “—Multiple-element Transactions—Contemporaneous Purchases and Sales” below.
Launch fees received by the Company from programming vendors are recognized as a reduction of expense on a straight-line basis over the term of the related programming arrangement. Amounts received from programming vendors representing the reimbursement of marketing costs are recognized as a reduction of marketing expense as the marketing services are provided.
Advertising revenue is generated through TWC Media's sale of video and online advertising inventory to local, regional and national advertising customers. Advertising revenue is recognized in the period during which the advertisements are exhibited. Advertising costs are expensed upon the first exhibition of the related advertisements.
Other revenue primarily includes (i) beginning in the fourth quarter of 2012, fees received from distributors of the Company's two Los Angeles regional sports networks (Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes) launched on October 1, 2012 that carry Los Angeles Lakers' basketball games and other sports programming; (ii) fees paid to TWC by the Advance/Newhouse Partnership for (a) the ability to distribute the Company's high-speed data service and (b) TWC's management of certain functions, including, among others, the acquisition of programming rights, as well as the provision of certain functions, including engineering; and (iii) home shopping network-related revenue (including commissions earned on the sale of merchandise and carriage fees).
Fees paid to TWC for the ability to distribute TWC's services are recognized as revenue in the period in which TWC's services are distributed to a consumer. Fees received for managing certain functions for the Advance/Newhouse Partnership are recognized as revenue in the period during which the management functions are performed. Home shopping network-related revenue is recognized as revenue in the period during which the merchandise is sold or the carriage fees are earned.
In February 2014, the Company expects American Media Productions, LLC (“American Media Productions”), an unaffiliated third party, to launch SportsNet LA, a regional sports network that will carry the Los Angeles Dodgers' baseball games and other sports programming. In accordance with long-term agreements with American Media Productions, TWC will act as the network's exclusive advertising and affiliate sales agent and will have certain branding and programming rights with respect to the network. In addition, TWC will provide certain production and technical services to American Media Productions. Upon the launch of SportsNet LA, revenue from advertising inventory sold on SportsNet LA will be included in advertising revenue, fees received from distributors of SportsNet LA will be included in other revenue and content acquisition and production costs will be included in cost of revenue.
Multiple-element Transactions
Multiple-element transactions involve situations where judgment must be exercised in determining the fair value of the different elements in a bundled transaction. As the term is used here, multiple-element transactions can involve (i) contemporaneous purchases and sales (e.g., the Company sells advertising services to a customer and at the same time purchases programming services) and/or (ii) sales of multiple products and/or services (e.g., the Company sells video, high-speed data and voice services to a customer).
Contemporaneous Purchases and Sales
In the normal course of business, TWC enters into multiple-element transactions where the Company is simultaneously both a customer and a vendor with the same counterparty. For example, when negotiating the terms of programming purchase contracts with cable networks, TWC may at the same time negotiate for the sale of advertising to the same cable network. Arrangements, although negotiated contemporaneously, may be documented in one or more contracts.
The Company's accounting policy for each transaction negotiated contemporaneously is to record each element of the transaction based on the respective estimated fair values of the products or services purchased and the products or services sold. The judgments made in determining fair value in such transactions impact the amount of revenue, expenses and net income recognized over the respective terms of the transactions, as well as the respective periods in which they are recognized.
In determining the fair value of the respective elements, TWC refers to quoted market prices (where available), historical transactions or comparable cash transactions. The most frequent transactions of this type that the Company encounters involve funds received from its vendors. The Company records cash consideration received from a vendor as a reduction in the price of the vendor's product unless (i) the consideration is for the reimbursement of a specific, incremental, identifiable cost incurred, in which case the Company would record the cash consideration received as a reduction in such cost or (ii) the Company is providing an identifiable benefit in exchange for the consideration, in which case the Company recognizes revenue for this element.
With respect to vendor advertising arrangements being negotiated simultaneously with the same cable network, TWC assesses whether each piece of the arrangement is at fair value. The factors that are considered in determining the individual fair value of the programming vary from arrangement to arrangement and include (i) the existence of a “most-favored-nation” clause or comparable assurances as to fair market value with respect to programming, (ii) a comparison to fees paid under a prior contract and (iii) a comparison to fees paid for similar networks. In determining the fair value of the advertising arrangement, the Company considers advertising rates paid by other advertisers on the Company's systems with similar terms.
Sales of Multiple Products or Services
If the Company enters into sales contracts for the sale of multiple products or services, then the Company evaluates standalone selling price for each deliverable in the transaction. For example, the Company sells video, high-speed data and voice services to subscribers in a bundled package at a rate lower than if the subscriber purchases each product on an individual basis. Revenue received from such subscribers is allocated to each product in a pro-rata manner based on the standalone selling price of each of the respective services on an individual basis. As another example, if a subscriber moves from a bundled package containing two services to a bundled package containing three services, the increase in the total revenue received is not attributed to the additional service. Rather, the total revenue received from such subscribers are allocated to each of the three products in a pro-rata manner based on the relative selling price of each of the respective services on an individual basis.
Gross Versus Net Revenue Recognition
In the normal course of business, the Company acts as or uses an intermediary or agent in executing transactions with third parties. The accounting issue presented by these arrangements is whether the Company should report revenue based on the gross amount billed to the ultimate customer or on the net amount received from the customer after commissions and other payments to third parties. To the extent revenue is recorded on a gross basis, any commissions or other payments to third parties are recorded as expense so that the net amount (gross revenue less expense) is reflected in Operating Income. Accordingly, the impact on Operating Income is the same whether the Company records revenue on a gross or net basis.
For example, TWC is assessed franchise fees by franchising authorities, which are passed on to the customer. The accounting issue presented by these arrangements is whether TWC should report revenue based on the gross amount billed to the ultimate customer or on the net amount received from the customer after payments to franchising authorities. The Company has determined that these amounts should be reported on a gross basis. TWC's policy is that, in instances where the fees are being assessed directly to the Company, amounts paid to the governmental authorities and amounts received from the customers are recorded on a gross basis. That is, amounts paid to the governmental authorities are recorded as cost of revenue and amounts received from the customer are recorded as revenue.