CCO » Topics » Description of Business

These excerpts taken from the CCO 8-K filed Dec 11, 2009.

Description of Business

Our outdoor advertising business has been, and may continue to be, adversely impacted by the difficult economic conditions currently present in the United States and other countries in which we operate. The continuing weakening economy has, among other things, adversely affected our clients’ need for advertising and marketing services, resulted in increased cancellations and non-renewals by our clients, thereby reducing our occupancy levels and could require us to lower our rates in order to remain competitive, thereby reducing our yield, or affect our client’s solvency. Any one or more of these effects could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our revenue is derived from selling advertising space on displays owned or operated by us, consisting primarily of billboards, street furniture and transit displays. We own the majority of our advertising displays, which typically are located on sites that we either lease or own or for which we have acquired permanent easements. Our advertising contracts with clients typically outline the number of displays reserved, the duration of the advertising campaign and the unit price per display.

Our advertising rates are based on a number of different factors including location, competition, size of display, illumination, market and gross ratings points. Gross ratings points are the total number of impressions delivered by a display

 

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or group of displays, expressed as a percentage of a market population. The number of impressions delivered by a display is measured by the number of people passing the site during a defined period of time and, in some international markets, is weighted to account for such factors as illumination, proximity to other displays and the speed and viewing angle of approaching traffic. Management typically monitors our business by reviewing the average rates, average revenue per display, or yield, occupancy and inventory levels of each of our display types by market. In addition, because a significant portion of our advertising operations are conducted in foreign markets, the largest being France and the United Kingdom, management reviews the operating results from our foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. A constant dollar basis allows for comparison of operations independent of foreign exchange movements.

The significant expenses associated with our operations include (i) direct production, maintenance and installation expenses, (ii) site lease expenses for land under our displays and (iii) revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed amounts payable under our billboard, street furniture and transit display contracts. Our direct production, maintenance and installation expenses include costs for printing, transporting and changing the advertising copy on our displays, the related labor costs, the vinyl and paper costs and the costs for cleaning and maintaining our displays. Vinyl and paper costs vary according to the complexity of the advertising copy and the quantity of displays. Our site lease expenses include lease payments for use of the land under our displays, as well as any revenue-sharing arrangements or minimum guaranteed amounts payable we may have with the landlords. The terms of our site leases and revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed contracts generally range from one to 20 years.

In our International business, normal market practice is to sell billboards and street furniture as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks, compared to contract terms typically ranging from four weeks to one year in the United States. In addition, public ownership of display sites and associated competitive bidding for street furniture and transit display contracts constitute a larger portion of our International business, and a different regulatory environment for billboards results in higher recurring site lease cost in our International business compared to our Americas business. As a result of these factors and generally lower economy of scales in these comparatively smaller markets, our margins are typically less in our International business than in the Americas.

Our street furniture and transit display contracts, the terms of which range from three to 20 years, generally require us to make upfront investments in property, plant and equipment. These contracts may also include upfront lease payments and/or minimum annual guaranteed lease payments. We can give no assurance that our cash flows from operations over the terms of these contracts will exceed the upfront and minimum required payments.

Our 2008 and 2007 results of operations include a full year of the results of operations of Interspace Airport Advertising, or Interspace, and our results of operations for 2006 include a partial year of the results of operations of Interspace, which we acquired in July 2006.

Description of Business

Our outdoor advertising business has been, and may continue to be, adversely impacted by the difficult economic conditions currently present in the United States and other countries in which we operate. The continuing weakening economy has, among other things, adversely affected our clients’

 

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need for advertising and marketing services, resulted in increased cancellations and non-renewals by our clients, thereby reducing our occupancy levels and could require us to lower our rates in order to remain competitive, thereby reducing our yield, or affect our clients’ solvency. Any one or more of these effects could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our revenue is derived from selling advertising space on displays owned or operated by us, consisting primarily of billboards, street furniture and transit displays. We own the majority of our advertising displays, which typically are located on sites that we either lease or own or for which we have acquired permanent easements. Our advertising contracts with clients typically outline the number of displays reserved, the duration of the advertising campaign and the unit price per display.

Our advertising rates are based on a number of different factors including location, competition, size of display, illumination, market and gross ratings points. Gross ratings points are the total number of impressions delivered by a display or group of displays, expressed as a percentage of a market population. The number of impressions delivered by a display is measured by the number of people passing the site during a defined period of time and, in some international markets, is weighted to account for such factors as illumination, proximity to other displays and the speed and viewing angle of approaching traffic. Management typically monitors our business by reviewing the average rates, average revenue per display, or yield, occupancy and inventory levels of each of our display types by market. In addition, because a significant portion of our advertising operations are conducted in foreign markets, the largest being France and the United Kingdom, management reviews the operating results from our foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. A constant dollar basis allows for comparison of operations independent of foreign exchange movements.

The significant expenses associated with our operations include (i) direct production, maintenance and installation expenses, (ii) site lease expenses for land under our displays and (iii) revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed amounts payable under our billboard, street furniture and transit displays, and other contracts. Our direct production, maintenance and installation expenses include costs for printing, transporting and changing the advertising copy on our displays, the related labor costs, the vinyl and paper costs and the costs for cleaning and maintaining our displays. Vinyl and paper costs vary according to the complexity of the advertising copy and the quantity of displays. Our site lease expenses include lease payments for use of the land under our displays, as well as any revenue-sharing arrangements or minimum guaranteed amounts payable that we may have with the landlords. The terms of our site leases and revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed contracts generally range from one to 20 years.

In our International business, normal market practice is to sell billboards and street furniture displays as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks, compared to contract terms typically ranging from four weeks to one year in the United States. In addition, public ownership of display sites and associated competitive bidding for street furniture and transit display contracts constitute a larger portion of our International business, and a different regulatory environment for billboards, result in higher recurring site lease cost in our International business compared to our Americas business. As a result of these factors and generally lower economy of scales in these comparatively smaller markets, our margins are typically less in our International business than in the Americas. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—The success of our street furniture and transit products is dependent on our obtaining key municipal concessions, which we may not be able to obtain on favorable terms.”

Our street furniture and transit display contracts, the terms of which range from three to 20 years, generally require us to make upfront investments in property, plant and equipment. These contracts may also include upfront lease payments and/or minimum annual guaranteed lease payments. We can give no assurance that our cash flows from operations over the terms of these contracts will exceed the upfront and minimum required payments.

 

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Relationship with Clear Channel Communications

We became a publicly traded company on November 11, 2005, through an initial public offering (“IPO”), in which we sold 10% of our common stock, or 35.0 million shares of our Class A common stock. Prior to our IPO, we were an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications. Clear Channel Communications currently owns all of our outstanding shares of Class B common stock, representing approximately 89% of the outstanding shares of our common stock and approximately 99% of the total voting power of our common stock.

In accordance with the Master Agreement, our branch managers follow a corporate policy allowing Clear Channel Communications to use, without charge, Americas’ displays they believe would otherwise be unsold. Our sales personnel receive partial revenue credit for that usage for compensation purposes. This partial revenue credit is not included in our reported revenue. Clear Channel Communications bears the cost of producing the advertising and we bear the costs of installing and removing this advertising. We estimated this discounted revenue would have been less than 1% of our Americas revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2009 and 2008.

Under the Corporate Services Agreement, Clear Channel Communications provides management services to us, which include, among other things: (i) treasury, payroll and other financial related services; (ii) executive officer services; (iii) human resources and employee benefits services; (iv) legal and related services; (v) information systems, network and related services; (vi) investment services; (vii) procurement and sourcing support services; and (viii) other general corporate services. These services are charged to us based on actual direct costs incurred or allocated by Clear Channel Communications based on headcount, revenue or other factors on a pro rata basis. For the three months ended September 30, 2009 and 2008, we recorded approximately $7.8 million and $7.4 million, respectively, as a component of corporate expenses for these services. For the nine months ended September 30, 2009 and 2008, we recorded approximately $22.0 million and $19.5 million, respectively, as a component of corporate expenses for these services.

For a discussion of certain risks related to our relationship with Clear Channel Communications, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Relationship with Clear Channel Communications.”

This excerpt taken from the CCO 10-Q filed May 11, 2009.

Description of Business

Our outdoor advertising business has been, and may continue to be, adversely impacted by the difficult economic conditions currently present in the United States and other countries in which we operate. The continuing weakening economy has, among other things, adversely affected our clients’ need for advertising and marketing services, resulted in increased cancellations and non-renewals by our clients, thereby reducing our occupancy levels and could require us to lower our rates in order to remain competitive, thereby reducing our yield, or affect our client’s solvency. Any one or more of these effects could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our revenue is derived from selling advertising space on displays owned or operated by us, consisting primarily of billboards, street furniture and transit displays. We own the majority of our advertising displays, which typically are located on sites that we either lease or own or for which we have acquired permanent easements. Our advertising contracts with clients typically outline the number of displays reserved, the duration of the advertising campaign and the unit price per display.

Our advertising rates are based on a number of different factors including location, competition, size of display, illumination, market and gross ratings points. Gross ratings points are the total number of impressions delivered by a display or group of displays, expressed as a percentage of a market population. The number of impressions delivered by a display is measured by the number of people passing the site during a defined period of time and, in some international markets, is weighted to account for such factors as illumination, proximity to other displays and the speed and viewing angle of approaching traffic. Management typically monitors our business by reviewing the average rates, average revenue per display, or yield, occupancy and inventory levels of each of our display types by market. In addition, because a significant portion of our advertising operations are conducted in foreign markets, the largest being France and the United Kingdom, management reviews the operating results from our foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. A constant dollar basis allows for comparison of operations independent of foreign exchange movements.

The significant expenses associated with our operations include (i) direct production, maintenance and installation expenses, (ii) site lease expenses for land under our displays and (iii) revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed amounts payable under our billboard, street furniture and transit display contracts. Our direct production, maintenance and installation expenses include costs for printing, transporting and changing the advertising copy on our displays, the related labor costs, the vinyl and paper costs and the costs for cleaning and maintaining our displays. Vinyl and paper costs vary according to the complexity of the advertising copy and the quantity of displays. Our site lease expenses include lease payments for use of the land under our displays, as well as any revenue-sharing arrangements or minimum guaranteed amounts payable that we may have with the landlords. The terms of our site leases and revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed contracts generally range from one to 20 years.

In our International business, normal market practice is to sell billboards and street furniture as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks, compared to contract terms typically ranging from four weeks to one year in the United States. In addition, competitive bidding for street furniture and transit display contracts, which constitute a larger portion of our International business, and a different regulatory environment for billboards, result in higher site lease cost in our International business compared to our Americas business. As a result, our margins are typically less in our International business than in the Americas.

Our street furniture and transit display contracts, the terms of which range from three to 20 years, generally require us to make upfront investments in property, plant and equipment. These contracts may also include upfront lease payments and/or minimum annual guaranteed lease payments. We can give no assurance that our cash flows from operations over the terms of these contracts will exceed the upfront and minimum required payments.

This excerpt taken from the CCO DEF 14A filed Apr 30, 2009.

Description of Business

Our outdoor advertising business has been, and may continue to be, adversely impacted by the difficult economic conditions currently present in the United States and other countries in which we operate. The continuing

 

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weakening economy has, among other things, adversely affected our clients’ need for advertising and marketing services, resulted in increased cancellations and non-renewals by our clients, thereby reducing our occupancy levels and could require us to lower our rates in order to remain competitive, thereby reducing our yield, or affect our client’s solvency. Any one or more of these effects could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our revenue is derived from selling advertising space on approximately 908,000 displays owned or operated as of December 31, 2008, consisting primarily of billboards, street furniture and transit displays. Our business has been, and may continue to be, adversely impacted by the adverse economic conditions currently present in the United States and other countries in which we operate. The continuing weakening economy has, among other things, adversely affect our clients’ need for advertising and marketing services, resulted in increased cancellations and non-renewals by our clients, thereby reducing our occupancy levels, and could require us to lower our rates in order to remain competitive, thereby reducing our yield, or affect our clients’ solvency. Any one or more of these effects could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We own the majority of our advertising displays, which typically are located on sites that we either lease or own or for which we have acquired permanent easements. Our advertising contracts with clients typically outline the number of displays reserved, the duration of the advertising campaign and the unit price per display.

Our advertising rates are based on a number of different factors including location, competition, size of display, illumination, market and gross ratings points. Gross ratings points are the total number of impressions delivered by a display or group of displays, expressed as a percentage of a market population. The number of impressions delivered by a display is measured by the number of people passing the site during a defined period of time and, in some International markets, is weighted to account for such factors as illumination, proximity to other displays and the speed and viewing angle of approaching traffic. Management typically monitors our business by reviewing the average rates, average revenue per display, or yield, occupancy and inventory levels of each of our display types by market. In addition, because a significant portion of our advertising operations are conducted in foreign markets, the largest being France and the United Kingdom, management reviews the operating results from our foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. A constant dollar basis allows for comparison of operations independent of foreign exchange movements.

The significant expenses associated with our operations include (i) direct production, maintenance and installation expenses, (ii) site lease expenses for land under our displays and (iii) revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed amounts payable under our billboard, street furniture and transit display contracts. Our direct production, maintenance and installation expenses include costs for printing, transporting and changing the advertising copy on our displays, the related labor costs, the vinyl and paper costs and the costs for cleaning and maintaining our displays. Vinyl and paper costs vary according to the complexity of the advertising copy and the quantity of displays. Our site lease expenses include lease payments for use of the land under our displays, as well as any revenue-sharing arrangements or minimum guaranteed amounts payable we may have with the landlords. The terms of our site leases and revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed contracts generally range from 1 to 20 years.

In our International business, normal market practice is to sell billboards and street furniture as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks, compared to contract terms typically ranging from 4 weeks to one year in the United States. In addition, competitive bidding for street furniture and transit display contracts, which constitute a larger portion of our International business, and a different regulatory environment for billboards, result in higher site lease cost in our International business compared to our Americas business. As a result, our margins are typically less in our International business than in the Americas.

Our street furniture and transit display contracts, the terms of which range from 3 to 20 years, generally require us to make upfront investments in property, plant and equipment. These contracts may also include upfront lease payments and/or minimum annual guaranteed lease payments. We can give no assurance that our cash flows from operations over the terms of these contracts will exceed the upfront and minimum required payments.

 

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Our 2008 and 2007 results of operations include a full year of the results of operations of Interspace Airport Advertising, or Interspace, and our results of operations for 2006 include a partial year of the results of operations of Interspace, which we acquired in July 2006.

This excerpt taken from the CCO 10-K filed Mar 2, 2009.

Description of Business

Our outdoor advertising business has been, and may continue to be, adversely impacted by the difficult economic conditions currently present in the United States and other countries in which we operate. The continuing

 

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weakening economy has, among other things, adversely affected our clients’ need for advertising and marketing services, resulted in increased cancellations and non-renewals by our clients, thereby reducing our occupancy levels and could require us to lower our rates in order to remain competitive, thereby reducing our yield, or affect our client’s solvency. Any one or more of these effects could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our revenue is derived from selling advertising space on approximately 908,000 displays owned or operated as of December 31, 2008, consisting primarily of billboards, street furniture and transit displays. Our business has been, and may continue to be, adversely impacted by the adverse economic conditions currently present in the United States and other countries in which we operate. The continuing weakening economy has, among other things, adversely affect our clients’ need for advertising and marketing services, resulted in increased cancellations and non-renewals by our clients, thereby reducing our occupancy levels, and could require us to lower our rates in order to remain competitive, thereby reducing our yield, or affect our clients’ solvency. Any one or more of these effects could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We own the majority of our advertising displays, which typically are located on sites that we either lease or own or for which we have acquired permanent easements. Our advertising contracts with clients typically outline the number of displays reserved, the duration of the advertising campaign and the unit price per display.

Our advertising rates are based on a number of different factors including location, competition, size of display, illumination, market and gross ratings points. Gross ratings points are the total number of impressions delivered by a display or group of displays, expressed as a percentage of a market population. The number of impressions delivered by a display is measured by the number of people passing the site during a defined period of time and, in some International markets, is weighted to account for such factors as illumination, proximity to other displays and the speed and viewing angle of approaching traffic. Management typically monitors our business by reviewing the average rates, average revenue per display, or yield, occupancy and inventory levels of each of our display types by market. In addition, because a significant portion of our advertising operations are conducted in foreign markets, the largest being France and the United Kingdom, management reviews the operating results from our foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. A constant dollar basis allows for comparison of operations independent of foreign exchange movements.

The significant expenses associated with our operations include (i) direct production, maintenance and installation expenses, (ii) site lease expenses for land under our displays and (iii) revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed amounts payable under our billboard, street furniture and transit display contracts. Our direct production, maintenance and installation expenses include costs for printing, transporting and changing the advertising copy on our displays, the related labor costs, the vinyl and paper costs and the costs for cleaning and maintaining our displays. Vinyl and paper costs vary according to the complexity of the advertising copy and the quantity of displays. Our site lease expenses include lease payments for use of the land under our displays, as well as any revenue-sharing arrangements or minimum guaranteed amounts payable we may have with the landlords. The terms of our site leases and revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed contracts generally range from 1 to 20 years.

In our International business, normal market practice is to sell billboards and street furniture as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks, compared to contract terms typically ranging from 4 weeks to one year in the United States. In addition, competitive bidding for street furniture and transit display contracts, which constitute a larger portion of our International business, and a different regulatory environment for billboards, result in higher site lease cost in our International business compared to our Americas business. As a result, our margins are typically less in our International business than in the Americas.

Our street furniture and transit display contracts, the terms of which range from 3 to 20 years, generally require us to make upfront investments in property, plant and equipment. These contracts may also include upfront lease payments and/or minimum annual guaranteed lease payments. We can give no assurance that our cash flows from operations over the terms of these contracts will exceed the upfront and minimum required payments.

 

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Our 2008 and 2007 results of operations include a full year of the results of operations of Interspace Airport Advertising, or Interspace, and our results of operations for 2006 include a partial year of the results of operations of Interspace, which we acquired in July 2006.

This excerpt taken from the CCO 10-Q filed Nov 10, 2008.

Description of Business

Our business is potentially subject to the adverse economic conditions currently present in the United States and other countries in which we operate. Effects of the weakening economy could, among other things, adversely affect our clients’ need for advertising and marketing services, result in increased cancellations and non-renewals by our clients, thereby reducing our occupancy levels, require us to lower our rates in order to remain competitive, thereby reducing our yield, or affect our client’s solvency. Any one or more of these effects could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our revenue is derived from selling advertising space on displays owned or operated, consisting primarily of billboards, street furniture and transit displays. We own the majority of our advertising displays, which typically are located on sites that we either lease or own or for which we have acquired permanent easements. Our advertising contracts with clients typically outline the number of displays reserved, the duration of the advertising campaign and the unit price per display.

Our advertising rates are based on a number of different factors including location, competition, size of display, illumination, market and gross ratings points. Gross ratings points is the total number of impressions delivered by a display or group of displays, expressed as a percentage of a market population. The number of impressions delivered by a display is measured by the number of people passing the site during a defined period of time and, in some International markets, is weighted to account for such factors as illumination, proximity to other displays and the speed and viewing angle of approaching traffic. Management typically monitors our business by reviewing the average rates, average revenue per display, or yield, occupancy and inventory levels of each of our display types by market. In addition, because a significant portion of our advertising operations are conducted in foreign markets, the largest being France and the United Kingdom, management reviews the operating results from our foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. A constant dollar basis allows for comparison of operations independent of foreign exchange movements.

The significant expenses associated with our operations include (i) direct production, maintenance and installation expenses, (ii) site lease expenses for land under our displays and (iii) revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed amounts payable under our billboard, street furniture and transit display contracts. Our direct production, maintenance and installation expenses include costs for printing, transporting and changing the advertising copy on our displays, the related labor costs, the vinyl and paper costs and the costs for cleaning and maintaining our displays. Vinyl and paper costs vary according to the complexity of the advertising copy and the quantity of displays. Our site lease expenses include lease payments for use of the land under our displays, as well as any revenue-sharing arrangements or minimum guaranteed amounts payable we may have with the landlords. The terms of our site leases and revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed contracts generally range from 1 to 20 years.

In our International business, normal market practice is to sell billboards and street furniture as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks, compared to contract terms typically ranging from 4 weeks to one year in the United States. In addition, competitive bidding for street furniture and transit contracts, which constitute a larger portion of our International business, and a different regulatory environment for billboards, result in higher site lease cost in our International business compared to our Americas business. As a result, our margins are typically less in our International business than in the Americas.

Our street furniture and transit display contracts, the terms of which range from 3 to 20 years, generally require us to make upfront investments in property, plant and equipment. These contracts may also include upfront lease payments and/or minimum annual guaranteed lease payments. We can give no assurance that our cash flows from operations over the terms of these contracts will exceed the upfront and minimum required payments.

This excerpt taken from the CCO 10-Q filed Aug 11, 2008.

Description of Business

Our revenue is derived from selling advertising space on displays owned or operated, consisting primarily of billboards, street furniture and transit displays. We own the majority of our advertising displays, which typically are located on sites that we either lease or own or for which we have acquired permanent easements. Our advertising contracts with clients typically outline the number of displays reserved, the duration of the advertising campaign and the unit price per display.

Our advertising rates are based on a number of different factors including location, competition, size of display, illumination, market and gross ratings points. Gross ratings points is the total number of impressions delivered by a display or group of displays, expressed as a percentage of a market population. The number of impressions delivered by a display is measured by the number of people passing the site during a defined period of time and, in some International markets, is weighted to account for such factors as illumination, proximity to other displays and the speed and viewing angle of approaching traffic. Management typically monitors our business by reviewing the average rates, average revenue per display, or yield, occupancy and inventory levels of each of our display types by market. In addition, because a significant portion of our advertising operations are conducted in foreign markets, the largest being France and the United Kingdom, management reviews the operating results from our foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. A constant dollar basis allows for comparison of operations independent of foreign exchange movements.

The significant expenses associated with our operations include (i) direct production, maintenance and installation expenses, (ii) site lease expenses for land under our displays and (iii) revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed amounts payable under our billboard, street furniture and transit display contracts. Our direct production, maintenance and installation expenses include costs for printing, transporting and changing the advertising copy on our displays, the related labor costs, the vinyl and paper costs and the costs for cleaning and maintaining our displays. Vinyl and paper costs vary according to the complexity of the advertising copy and the quantity of displays. Our site lease expenses include lease payments for use of the land under our displays, as well as any revenue-sharing arrangements or minimum guaranteed amounts payable we may have with the landlords. The terms of our site leases and revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed contracts generally range from 1 to 20 years.

In our International business, normal market practice is to sell billboards and street furniture as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks, compared to contract terms typically ranging from 4 weeks to one year in the United States. In addition, competitive bidding for street furniture and transit contracts, which constitute a larger portion of our International business, and a different regulatory environment for billboards, result in higher site lease cost in our International business compared to our Americas business. As a result, our margins are typically less in our International business than in the Americas.

Our street furniture and transit display contracts, the terms of which range from 3 to 20 years, generally require us to make upfront investments in property, plant and equipment. These contracts may also include upfront lease payments and/or minimum annual guaranteed lease payments. We can give no assurance that our cash flows from operations over the terms of these contracts will exceed the upfront and minimum required payments.

This excerpt taken from the CCO 10-Q filed May 9, 2008.

Description of Business

Our revenue is derived from selling advertising space on displays owned or operated, consisting primarily of billboards, street furniture and transit displays. We own the majority of our advertising displays, which typically are located on sites that we either lease or own or for which we have acquired permanent easements. Our advertising contracts with clients typically outline the number of displays reserved, the duration of the advertising campaign and the unit price per display.

Our advertising rates are based on a number of different factors including location, competition, size of display, illumination, market and gross ratings points. Gross ratings points is the total number of impressions delivered by a display or group of displays, expressed as a percentage of a market population. The number of impressions delivered by a display is measured by the number of people passing the site during a defined period of time and, in some International markets, is weighted to account for such factors as illumination, proximity to other displays and the speed and viewing angle of approaching traffic. Management typically monitors our business by reviewing the average rates, average revenue per display, or yield, occupancy and inventory levels of each of our display types by market. In addition, because a significant portion of our advertising operations are conducted in foreign markets, the largest being France and the United Kingdom, management reviews the operating results from our foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. A constant dollar basis allows for comparison of operations independent of foreign exchange movements.

The significant expenses associated with our operations include (i) direct production, maintenance and installation expenses, (ii) site lease expenses for land under our displays and (iii) revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed amounts payable under our billboard, street furniture and transit display contracts. Our direct production, maintenance and installation expenses include costs for printing, transporting and changing the advertising copy on our displays, the related labor costs, the vinyl and paper costs and the costs for cleaning and maintaining our displays. Vinyl and paper costs vary according to the complexity of the advertising copy and the quantity of displays. Our site lease expenses include lease payments for use of the land under our displays, as well as any revenue-sharing arrangements or minimum guaranteed amounts payable we may have with the landlords. The terms of our site leases and revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed contracts generally range from 1 to 20 years.

In our International business, normal market practice is to sell billboards and street furniture as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks, compared to contract terms typically ranging from 4 weeks to one year in the United States. In addition, competitive bidding for street furniture and transit contracts, which constitute a larger portion of our International business, and a different regulatory environment for billboards, result in higher site lease cost in our International business compared to our Americas business. As a result, our margins are typically less in our International business than in the Americas.

Our street furniture and transit display contracts, the terms of which range from 3 to 20 years, generally require us to make upfront investments in property, plant and equipment. These contracts may also include upfront lease payments and/or minimum annual guaranteed lease payments. We can give no assurance that our cash flows from operations over the terms of these contracts will exceed the upfront and minimum required payments.

This excerpt taken from the CCO DEF 14A filed Apr 7, 2008.

Description of Business

Our revenue is derived from selling advertising space on approximately 897,000 displays owned or operated as of December 31, 2007, consisting primarily of billboards, street furniture and transit displays. We own the majority of our advertising displays, which typically are located on sites that we either lease or own or for which we have acquired permanent easements. Our advertising contracts with clients typically outline the number of displays reserved, the duration of the advertising campaign and the unit price per display.

Our advertising rates are based on a number of different factors including location, competition, size of display, illumination, market and gross rating points. Gross ratings points is the total number of impressions delivered by a display or group of displays, expressed as a percentage of a market population. The number of impressions delivered by a display is measured by the number of people passing the site during a defined period of time and, in some International markets, is weighted to account for such factors as illumination, proximity to other

 

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displays and the speed and viewing angle of approaching traffic. Management typically monitors our business by reviewing the average rates, average revenue per display, or yield, occupancy and inventory levels of each of our display types by market. In addition, because a significant portion of our advertising operations are conducted in foreign markets, the largest being France and the United Kingdom, management reviews the operating results from our foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. A constant dollar basis allows for comparison of operations independent of foreign exchange movements.

The significant expenses associated with our operations include (i) direct production, maintenance and installation expenses, (ii) site lease expenses for land under our displays and (iii) revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed amounts payable under our billboard, street furniture and transit display contracts. Our direct production, maintenance and installation expenses include costs for printing, transporting and changing the advertising copy on our displays, the related labor costs, the vinyl and paper costs and the costs for cleaning and maintaining our displays. Vinyl and paper costs vary according to the complexity of the advertising copy and the quantity of displays. Our site lease expenses include lease payments for use of the land under our displays, as well as any revenue-sharing arrangements or minimum guaranteed amounts payable we may have with the landlords. The terms of our site leases and revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed contracts generally range from 1 to 20 years.

In our International business, market practices require us to sell billboards and street furniture as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks, compared to contract terms typically ranging from 4 weeks to one year in the United States. In addition, competitive bidding for street furniture and transit contracts, which constitute a larger portion of our International business, and a different regulatory environment for billboards, result in higher site lease cost in our International business compared to our Americas business. As a result, our margins are typically less in our International business than in the Americas.

Our street furniture and transit display contracts, the terms of which range from 3 to 20 years, generally require us to make upfront investments in property, plant and equipment. These contracts may also include upfront lease payments and/or minimum annual guaranteed lease payments. We can give no assurance that our cash flows from operations over the terms of these contracts will exceed the upfront and minimum required payments.

Our 2007 results of operations include a full year of the results of operations of Interspace Airport Advertising, or Interspace, and our results of operations for 2006 include a partial year of the results of operations of Interspace, which we acquired in July 2006.

This excerpt taken from the CCO 10-K filed Feb 14, 2008.

Description of Business

Our revenue is derived from selling advertising space on approximately 897,000 displays owned or operated as of December 31, 2007, consisting primarily of billboards, street furniture and transit displays. We own the majority of our advertising displays, which typically are located on sites that we either lease or own or for which we have acquired permanent easements. Our advertising contracts with clients typically outline the number of displays reserved, the duration of the advertising campaign and the unit price per display.

Our advertising rates are based on a number of different factors including location, competition, size of display, illumination, market and gross rating points. Gross ratings points is the total number of impressions delivered by a display or group of displays, expressed as a percentage of a market population. The number of impressions delivered by a display is measured by the number of people passing the site during a defined period of time and, in some International markets, is weighted to account for such factors as illumination, proximity to other

 

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displays and the speed and viewing angle of approaching traffic. Management typically monitors our business by reviewing the average rates, average revenue per display, or yield, occupancy and inventory levels of each of our display types by market. In addition, because a significant portion of our advertising operations are conducted in foreign markets, the largest being France and the United Kingdom, management reviews the operating results from our foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. A constant dollar basis allows for comparison of operations independent of foreign exchange movements.

The significant expenses associated with our operations include (i) direct production, maintenance and installation expenses, (ii) site lease expenses for land under our displays and (iii) revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed amounts payable under our billboard, street furniture and transit display contracts. Our direct production, maintenance and installation expenses include costs for printing, transporting and changing the advertising copy on our displays, the related labor costs, the vinyl and paper costs and the costs for cleaning and maintaining our displays. Vinyl and paper costs vary according to the complexity of the advertising copy and the quantity of displays. Our site lease expenses include lease payments for use of the land under our displays, as well as any revenue-sharing arrangements or minimum guaranteed amounts payable we may have with the landlords. The terms of our site leases and revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed contracts generally range from 1 to 20 years.

In our International business, market practices require us to sell billboards and street furniture as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks, compared to contract terms typically ranging from 4 weeks to one year in the United States. In addition, competitive bidding for street furniture and transit contracts, which constitute a larger portion of our International business, and a different regulatory environment for billboards, result in higher site lease cost in our International business compared to our Americas business. As a result, our margins are typically less in our International business than in the Americas.

Our street furniture and transit display contracts, the terms of which range from 3 to 20 years, generally require us to make upfront investments in property, plant and equipment. These contracts may also include upfront lease payments and/or minimum annual guaranteed lease payments. We can give no assurance that our cash flows from operations over the terms of these contracts will exceed the upfront and minimum required payments.

Our 2007 results of operations include a full year of the results of operations of Interspace Airport Advertising, or Interspace, and our results of operations for 2006 include a partial year of the results of operations of Interspace, which we acquired in July 2006.

This excerpt taken from the CCO 10-Q filed Nov 9, 2007.

Description of Business

Our revenues are derived from selling advertising space on displays owned or operated, consisting primarily of billboards, street furniture and transit displays. We own the majority of our advertising displays, which typically are located on sites that we either lease or own or for which we have acquired permanent easements. Our advertising contracts with clients typically outline the number of displays reserved, the duration of the advertising campaign and the unit price per display.

Our advertising rates are generally based on the gross rating points, or total number of impressions delivered by a display or group of displays, expressed as a percentage of a market population. The number of impressions delivered by a display is measured by the number of people passing the site during a defined period of time and, in some International markets, is weighted to account for such factors as illumination, proximity to other displays and the speed and viewing angle of approaching traffic. Management typically monitors our business by reviewing the average rates, average revenues per display, or yield, occupancy and inventory levels of each of our display types by market. In addition, because a significant portion of our advertising operations are conducted in foreign markets, principally France and the United Kingdom, management reviews the operating results from our foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. A constant dollar basis allows for comparison of operations independent of foreign exchange movements. Because revenue-sharing and minimum guaranteed payment arrangements are more prevalent in our International operations, the margins in our International operations are typically less than the margins in our Americas operations.

The significant expenses associated with our operations include (i) direct production, maintenance and installation expenses, (ii) site lease expenses for land under our displays and (iii) revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed amounts payable under our billboard, street furniture and transit display contracts. Our direct production, maintenance and installation expenses include costs for printing, transporting and changing the advertising copy on our displays, the related labor costs, the vinyl and paper costs and the costs for cleaning and maintaining our displays. Vinyl and paper costs vary according to the complexity of the advertising copy and the quantity of displays. Our site lease expenses include lease payments for use of the land under our displays, as well as any revenue-sharing arrangements or minimum guaranteed amounts payable that we may have with the landlords. The terms of our site leases and revenue-sharing or minimum guaranteed contracts generally range from 1 to 20 years.

Our street furniture and transit display contracts, the terms of which range from 3 to 20 years, generally require us to make upfront investments in property, plant and equipment. These contracts may also include upfront lease payments or minimum annual guaranteed lease payments. We can give no assurance that our cash flows from operations over the terms of these contracts will exceed the upfront and minimum required payments.

The results in the 2007 period reflect our acquisition of Interspace Airport Advertising, or Interspace, which we acquired in July 2006.

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