US cable company's Franchise value

[muscleman]

Does anyone understand how this is accounted for? With the merger of CHTR-TWC, this value will be written up to 60 bn.

In CHTR's most recent 10-k, it says

"Valuation and impairment of franchises. The net carrying value of franchises as of both December 31, 2015 and 2014 was approximately $6.0 billion (representing 35% of total assets excluding restricted cash and cash equivalents). For more information and a complete discussion of how we value and test franchise assets for impairment, see Note 6 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements contained in “Part II. Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

 

In 2015, we performed a qualitative impairment assessment that indicated the fair value of the franchise assets in each unit of accounting exceeds the carrying value of such assets and thus resulted in no impairment. Our units of accounting for franchise impairment testing is based on geographical clustering of our cable systems into groups or markets. For each franchise unit of accounting, the estimated fair value of the franchise assets substantially exceeds the carrying value. Based on our qualitative impairment assessment and sensitivity analyses, none of our franchise assets are considered at risk of impairment. Based on the qualitative assessment, the franchise assets fair values are more than twice the carrying values for nearly all of the franchise units of accounting. The only exception is a single market in which its fair value of franchise assets exceeds its carrying value by more than 25%. The lower excess fair value of this market when compared to the others is attributed to the recent fair value measurement of this market's franchise assets in purchase accounting."

 

 

This is an asset item that's both huge and I can't understand.  :o