the acquisition of lkqd broadened and diversified our digital portfolio with technologies that are complementary to our current offerings of digital solutions and services for media publishers , and multi-platform marketing solutions for local and national advertisers . 38 the purchase prices to acquire whdf and krbk were funded by cash on hand . these acquisitions created two new duopolies for nexstar . we previously provided programming and sales services to these stations under tbas from july 15 , 2018 through november 9 , 2018 for whdf and from august 1 , 2018 through november 1 , 2018 for krbk . effective november 1 , 2018 , we began managing some elements of khii 's operation under a tba until the completion of the acquisition . on december 17 , 2018 , we obtained fcc approval for the acquisition and became the primary beneficiary of our variable interests in khii . therefore , as of this date , the stations ' assets that we agreed to acquire pursuant to a purchase agreement , and transactions thereafter , were consolidated into our financial statements . on january 28 , 2019 , we completed the acquisition and paid the remaining purchase price of $ 6.4 million , funded by cash on hand . the tba with khii was terminated as of this date . merger agreement with tribune on november 30 , 2018 , we entered into a definitive merger agreement with tribune to acquire tribune 's outstanding equity for $ 46.50 per share in a cash transaction . all equity-based awards of tribune that are outstanding prior to the merger will vest in full and will be converted into the right to receive the same cash consideration . the estimated total purchase price is valued at $ 6.4 billion , consisting of the merger cash consideration and the refinancing of tribune 's outstanding debt . tribune shareholders will be entitled to additional cash consideration of approximately $ 0.30 per share per month if the transaction has not closed by august 31 , 2019 , pro-rated for partial months and less an adjustment for any dividends declared on or after september 1 , 2019. tribune currently owns , operates or provides services to 42 television stations . we and tribune plan to divest certain of our stations in connection with the proposed merger in order to comply with fcc media ownership rules . the merger agreement contains certain termination rights for both us and tribune . if the merger agreement is terminated in connection with tribune entering into a definitive agreement with respect to a superior proposal , as well as under certain other circumstances , the termination fee payable by tribune to us will be $ 135 million . if the merger agreement is terminated because the required tribune stockholder vote is not obtained at a stockholder meeting duly held for such purpose , tribune will be required to reimburse us for our costs and expenses incurred in connection with the transaction in an amount not to exceed $ 15 million . either party may terminate the merger agreement if the merger is not consummated on or before an end date of november 30 , 2019 , with an automatic extension to february 29 , 2020 , if necessary to obtain regulatory approval under circumstances specified in the merger agreement . the merger has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is projected to close late in the third quarter of 2019 , subject to ( i ) the approval of the merger by the stockholders of tribune , ( ii ) fcc approval , ( iii ) other regulatory approvals ( including expiration of the applicable hsr waiting period ) and ( iv ) satisfaction of other customary closing conditions . the merger does not require approval of our stockholders and is not subject to any financing contingency . on november 30 , 2018 , we received committed financing up to a maximum of $ 6.4 billion from a group of commercial banks to provide the debt financing to consummate the merger and the refinancing of certain of the existing indebtedness of tribune and related transactions . in connection with obtaining the hsr approval and the fcc approval , nexstar agreed to divest one or more television stations in certain dmas . those dmas are : ( i ) salt lake city , ut ; ( ii ) grand rapids-kalamazoo-battle creek , mi ; ( iii ) wilkes barre-scranton , pa ; ( iv ) richmond-petersburg , va ; ( v ) des moines-ames , ia ; ( vi ) norfolk-portsmouth-newport news , va ; ( vii ) fort smith-fayetteville-springdale-rogers , ar ; ( viii ) davenport , ia-rock island-moline , il ; ( ix ) memphis , tn ; ( x ) huntsville-decatur ( florence ) , al ; ( xi ) indianapolis , in ; ( xii ) hartford-new haven , ct and ( xiii ) harrisburg , pa. nexstar is required to designate one or more tribune stations or nexstar stations for divestiture in each dma . nexstar has also agreed to designate , at its option , certain additional tribune stations or nexstar stations for divestiture and to divest such stations in order to comply with the fcc national cap as required by the fcc in order to obtain approval of and consummate the transactions . 2018 debt transactions on january 16 , 2018 , we borrowed $ 44.0 million under our revolving credit facility to fund the acquisition of lkqd . through june 2018 , we repaid the entire $ 44.0 million principal balance under our revolving credit facility , funded by cash on hand . story_separator_special_tag overall , including past results of our newly acquired stations , automobile revenues decreased by approximately 10 % during the year . the other categories representing our top five were attorneys and medical/healthcare , which increased in 2018 , and furniture and fast food/restaurants , which decreased in 2018. political advertising revenue was $ 251.2 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 26.9 million for the same period in 2017 , an increase of $ 224.3 million , as 2018 was an election year . 43 retransmission compensation was $ 1.121 billion for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 995.8 million for the same period in 2017 , an increase of $ 125.3 million , or 12.6 % . our legacy stations ' revenue increased by $ 82.9 million primarily due to scheduled annual escalation of rates per subscriber , renewals of smaller contracts providing for higher rates per subscriber ( contracts generally have a three-year term ) and initial contributions from distribution agreements with ottds . additionally , our merger with media general in january 2017 resulted in incremental revenue of $ 38.5 million and our station acquisitions in the third and fourth quarters of 2018 resulted in incremental revenue of $ 4.7 million , partially offset by $ 0.8 million decrease resulting from station divestitures in 2017. broadcasters currently deliver more than 30 % of all television viewing audiences in a pay television household but are paid approximately 12-14 % of the total cable programming fees . we anticipate continued increase of retransmission fees until there is a more balanced relationship between viewers delivered and fees paid for delivery of such viewers . digital media revenue , representing advertising revenue on our stations ' web and mobile sites and revenue from our other digital operations , was $ 261.2 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 226.8 million for the same period in 2017 , an increase of $ 34.4 million or 15.2 % . this was primarily attributable to $ 51.8 million incremental revenue from our newly acquired stations and entities , an increase in revenue from our social media platform of $ 6.5 million and an increase in revenue of our legacy stations of $ 2.3 million . these increases were partially offset by a decrease in revenue as a result of rebranding and consolidation of our digital products and offerings of $ 26.1 million . operating expenses ( income ) corporate expenses , related to costs associated with the centralized management of our stations , were $ 110.9 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 138.4 million for the same period in 2017 , a decrease of $ 27.5 million , or 19.9 % . this was primarily attributable to a decrease in payroll , severance , bonuses and payroll related expenses of $ 26.9 million and a decrease in legal and professional fees of $ 8.2 million , both of which were primarily associated with our 2017 acquisitions . these decreases were partially offset by a $ 7.2 million increase in stock-based compensation related to equity incentives awarded during 2018 and 2017. station direct operating expenses , consisting primarily of news , engineering , programming and selling , general and administrative expenses ( net of trade expense ) were $ 1.570 billion for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 1.446 billion for the same period in 2017 , an increase of $ 124.8 million , or 8.6 % . the increase was primarily due to expenses of our newly acquired stations and entities of $ 88.5 million ( including network and programming costs of $ 24.4 million ) , partially offset by a decrease of $ 1.2 million related to our station divestitures in 2017. additionally , our legacy stations ' programming costs increased by $ 61.3 million primarily due to network affiliation renewals and annual increases in our network affiliation costs . network affiliation costs have been increasing industry-wide and will continue to increase over the next several years . these increases were partially offset by a $ 25.2 million decrease in the direct operating expenses of our digital media entities as a result of rebranding and consolidation of our digital products and offerings . depreciation of property and equipment was $ 109.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 100.7 million for the same period in 2017 , an increase of $ 9.1 million , or 9.1 % . this was primarily due to increased depreciation of various assets that were disposed and being replaced in connection with the station repack of $ 6.4 million , and incremental depreciation from newly capitalized assets . amortization of intangible assets was $ 149.4 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 159.5 million for the same period in 2017 , a decrease of $ 10.1 million , or 6.3 % . this was primarily attributable to decreases in amortization from certain fully amortized assets , partially offset by incremental amortization from our acquisitions in 2018. amortization of broadcast rights , excluding barter were flat at $ 61.3 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 62.9 million for the same period in 2017. in 2017 , certain of our stations were assigned to new channels ( “ repack ” ) in connection with the fcc 's process of repurposing a portion of the broadcast television spectrum for wireless broadband use . our stations are currently spending costs , mainly capital expenditures , to construct and license the necessary technical modifications to operate on their newly assigned channels and to vacate their former channels no later than july 13 , 2020. subject to fund limitations , the fcc reimburses television broadcasters , mvpds and other parties for costs reasonably incurred due

loss on extinguishment of debt loss on extinguishment of debt was $ 12.1 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 34.9 million for the same period in 2017 , a decrease of $ 22.8 million , or 65.3 % . in 2018 , we refinanced certain of our term loans and revolving loans , resulting in a loss on extinguishment of debt of $ 3.7 million . we also made prepayments of our outstanding term loans during 2018 , resulting in a loss on extinguishment of debt of $ 8.4 million . in 2017 , we redeemed the entire $ 525.0 million principal balance under our 6.875 % notes at a redemption price equal to 103.438 % . we also refinanced $ 670.8 million of the company 's term loans and revolving loans and prepaid $ 260.0 million principal balance under our term loans . these transactions resulted in total loss on extinguishments of debt of $ 34.9 million , representing premiums paid to retire the 6.875 % notes and the write-off of unamortized debt financing costs and debt discounts/premiums associated with these debt instruments . income taxes income tax expense was $ 144.7 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to an income tax benefit of $ 233.9 million for the same period in 2017 , an increase in income tax expense of $ 378.6 million . the effective tax rates during the years ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 were 27.1 % and -96.9 % , respectively . this significant change relates to the prior year remeasurement under the tax cuts and jobs act of 2017. in 2017 , the tax cuts and jobs act of 2017 was signed into law which reduced the federal corporate income tax rate from 35 % to 21 % . the reduction in the federal corporate income tax rate resulted in a $ 322.2 million reduction of the company 's net deferred tax liability , or a 133.1 % increase in the effective tax rate between the two periods .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```loss on extinguishment of debt loss on extinguishment of debt was $ 12.1 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 34.9 million for the same period in 2017 , a decrease of $ 22.8 million , or 65.3 % . in 2018 , we refinanced certain of our term loans and revolving loans , resulting in a loss on extinguishment of debt of $ 3.7 million . we also made prepayments of our outstanding term loans during 2018 , resulting in a loss on extinguishment of debt of $ 8.4 million . in 2017 , we redeemed the entire $ 525.0 million principal balance under our 6.875 % notes at a redemption price equal to 103.438 % . we also refinanced $ 670.8 million of the company 's term loans and revolving loans and prepaid $ 260.0 million principal balance under our term loans . these transactions resulted in total loss on extinguishments of debt of $ 34.9 million , representing premiums paid to retire the 6.875 % notes and the write-off of unamortized debt financing costs and debt discounts/premiums associated with these debt instruments . income taxes income tax expense was $ 144.7 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to an income tax benefit of $ 233.9 million for the same period in 2017 , an increase in income tax expense of $ 378.6 million . the effective tax rates during the years ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 were 27.1 % and -96.9 % , respectively . this significant change relates to the prior year remeasurement under the tax cuts and jobs act of 2017. in 2017 , the tax cuts and jobs act of 2017 was signed into law which reduced the federal corporate income tax rate from 35 % to 21 % . the reduction in the federal corporate income tax rate resulted in a $ 322.2 million reduction of the company 's net deferred tax liability , or a 133.1 % increase in the effective tax rate between the two periods .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : the acquisition of lkqd broadened and diversified our digital portfolio with technologies that are complementary to our current offerings of digital solutions and services for media publishers , and multi-platform marketing solutions for local and national advertisers . 38 the purchase prices to acquire whdf and krbk were funded by cash on hand . these acquisitions created two new duopolies for nexstar . we previously provided programming and sales services to these stations under tbas from july 15 , 2018 through november 9 , 2018 for whdf and from august 1 , 2018 through november 1 , 2018 for krbk . effective november 1 , 2018 , we began managing some elements of khii 's operation under a tba until the completion of the acquisition . on december 17 , 2018 , we obtained fcc approval for the acquisition and became the primary beneficiary of our variable interests in khii . therefore , as of this date , the stations ' assets that we agreed to acquire pursuant to a purchase agreement , and transactions thereafter , were consolidated into our financial statements . on january 28 , 2019 , we completed the acquisition and paid the remaining purchase price of $ 6.4 million , funded by cash on hand . the tba with khii was terminated as of this date . merger agreement with tribune on november 30 , 2018 , we entered into a definitive merger agreement with tribune to acquire tribune 's outstanding equity for $ 46.50 per share in a cash transaction . all equity-based awards of tribune that are outstanding prior to the merger will vest in full and will be converted into the right to receive the same cash consideration . the estimated total purchase price is valued at $ 6.4 billion , consisting of the merger cash consideration and the refinancing of tribune 's outstanding debt . tribune shareholders will be entitled to additional cash consideration of approximately $ 0.30 per share per month if the transaction has not closed by august 31 , 2019 , pro-rated for partial months and less an adjustment for any dividends declared on or after september 1 , 2019. tribune currently owns , operates or provides services to 42 television stations . we and tribune plan to divest certain of our stations in connection with the proposed merger in order to comply with fcc media ownership rules . the merger agreement contains certain termination rights for both us and tribune . if the merger agreement is terminated in connection with tribune entering into a definitive agreement with respect to a superior proposal , as well as under certain other circumstances , the termination fee payable by tribune to us will be $ 135 million . if the merger agreement is terminated because the required tribune stockholder vote is not obtained at a stockholder meeting duly held for such purpose , tribune will be required to reimburse us for our costs and expenses incurred in connection with the transaction in an amount not to exceed $ 15 million . either party may terminate the merger agreement if the merger is not consummated on or before an end date of november 30 , 2019 , with an automatic extension to february 29 , 2020 , if necessary to obtain regulatory approval under circumstances specified in the merger agreement . the merger has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is projected to close late in the third quarter of 2019 , subject to ( i ) the approval of the merger by the stockholders of tribune , ( ii ) fcc approval , ( iii ) other regulatory approvals ( including expiration of the applicable hsr waiting period ) and ( iv ) satisfaction of other customary closing conditions . the merger does not require approval of our stockholders and is not subject to any financing contingency . on november 30 , 2018 , we received committed financing up to a maximum of $ 6.4 billion from a group of commercial banks to provide the debt financing to consummate the merger and the refinancing of certain of the existing indebtedness of tribune and related transactions . in connection with obtaining the hsr approval and the fcc approval , nexstar agreed to divest one or more television stations in certain dmas . those dmas are : ( i ) salt lake city , ut ; ( ii ) grand rapids-kalamazoo-battle creek , mi ; ( iii ) wilkes barre-scranton , pa ; ( iv ) richmond-petersburg , va ; ( v ) des moines-ames , ia ; ( vi ) norfolk-portsmouth-newport news , va ; ( vii ) fort smith-fayetteville-springdale-rogers , ar ; ( viii ) davenport , ia-rock island-moline , il ; ( ix ) memphis , tn ; ( x ) huntsville-decatur ( florence ) , al ; ( xi ) indianapolis , in ; ( xii ) hartford-new haven , ct and ( xiii ) harrisburg , pa. nexstar is required to designate one or more tribune stations or nexstar stations for divestiture in each dma . nexstar has also agreed to designate , at its option , certain additional tribune stations or nexstar stations for divestiture and to divest such stations in order to comply with the fcc national cap as required by the fcc in order to obtain approval of and consummate the transactions . 2018 debt transactions on january 16 , 2018 , we borrowed $ 44.0 million under our revolving credit facility to fund the acquisition of lkqd . through june 2018 , we repaid the entire $ 44.0 million principal balance under our revolving credit facility , funded by cash on hand . story_separator_special_tag overall , including past results of our newly acquired stations , automobile revenues decreased by approximately 10 % during the year . the other categories representing our top five were attorneys and medical/healthcare , which increased in 2018 , and furniture and fast food/restaurants , which decreased in 2018. political advertising revenue was $ 251.2 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 26.9 million for the same period in 2017 , an increase of $ 224.3 million , as 2018 was an election year . 43 retransmission compensation was $ 1.121 billion for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 995.8 million for the same period in 2017 , an increase of $ 125.3 million , or 12.6 % . our legacy stations ' revenue increased by $ 82.9 million primarily due to scheduled annual escalation of rates per subscriber , renewals of smaller contracts providing for higher rates per subscriber ( contracts generally have a three-year term ) and initial contributions from distribution agreements with ottds . additionally , our merger with media general in january 2017 resulted in incremental revenue of $ 38.5 million and our station acquisitions in the third and fourth quarters of 2018 resulted in incremental revenue of $ 4.7 million , partially offset by $ 0.8 million decrease resulting from station divestitures in 2017. broadcasters currently deliver more than 30 % of all television viewing audiences in a pay television household but are paid approximately 12-14 % of the total cable programming fees . we anticipate continued increase of retransmission fees until there is a more balanced relationship between viewers delivered and fees paid for delivery of such viewers . digital media revenue , representing advertising revenue on our stations ' web and mobile sites and revenue from our other digital operations , was $ 261.2 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 226.8 million for the same period in 2017 , an increase of $ 34.4 million or 15.2 % . this was primarily attributable to $ 51.8 million incremental revenue from our newly acquired stations and entities , an increase in revenue from our social media platform of $ 6.5 million and an increase in revenue of our legacy stations of $ 2.3 million . these increases were partially offset by a decrease in revenue as a result of rebranding and consolidation of our digital products and offerings of $ 26.1 million . operating expenses ( income ) corporate expenses , related to costs associated with the centralized management of our stations , were $ 110.9 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 138.4 million for the same period in 2017 , a decrease of $ 27.5 million , or 19.9 % . this was primarily attributable to a decrease in payroll , severance , bonuses and payroll related expenses of $ 26.9 million and a decrease in legal and professional fees of $ 8.2 million , both of which were primarily associated with our 2017 acquisitions . these decreases were partially offset by a $ 7.2 million increase in stock-based compensation related to equity incentives awarded during 2018 and 2017. station direct operating expenses , consisting primarily of news , engineering , programming and selling , general and administrative expenses ( net of trade expense ) were $ 1.570 billion for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 1.446 billion for the same period in 2017 , an increase of $ 124.8 million , or 8.6 % . the increase was primarily due to expenses of our newly acquired stations and entities of $ 88.5 million ( including network and programming costs of $ 24.4 million ) , partially offset by a decrease of $ 1.2 million related to our station divestitures in 2017. additionally , our legacy stations ' programming costs increased by $ 61.3 million primarily due to network affiliation renewals and annual increases in our network affiliation costs . network affiliation costs have been increasing industry-wide and will continue to increase over the next several years . these increases were partially offset by a $ 25.2 million decrease in the direct operating expenses of our digital media entities as a result of rebranding and consolidation of our digital products and offerings . depreciation of property and equipment was $ 109.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 100.7 million for the same period in 2017 , an increase of $ 9.1 million , or 9.1 % . this was primarily due to increased depreciation of various assets that were disposed and being replaced in connection with the station repack of $ 6.4 million , and incremental depreciation from newly capitalized assets . amortization of intangible assets was $ 149.4 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 159.5 million for the same period in 2017 , a decrease of $ 10.1 million , or 6.3 % . this was primarily attributable to decreases in amortization from certain fully amortized assets , partially offset by incremental amortization from our acquisitions in 2018. amortization of broadcast rights , excluding barter were flat at $ 61.3 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 62.9 million for the same period in 2017. in 2017 , certain of our stations were assigned to new channels ( “ repack ” ) in connection with the fcc 's process of repurposing a portion of the broadcast television spectrum for wireless broadband use . our stations are currently spending costs , mainly capital expenditures , to construct and license the necessary technical modifications to operate on their newly assigned channels and to vacate their former channels no later than july 13 , 2020. subject to fund limitations , the fcc reimburses television broadcasters , mvpds and other parties for costs reasonably incurred due

