NOTE 9. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Commitments The Company has commitments under certain firm contractual arrangements (firm commitments) to make future payments. These firm commitments secure the future rights to various assets and services to be used in the normal course of operations. The total firm commitments and future debt payments as of September 30, 2018 and June 30, 2018 were approximately $82 billion and $84 billion, respectively. The decrease from June 30, 2018 was primarily due to payments related to sports programming rights and borrowings . Contingent Guarantees The Companys contingent guarantees as of September 30, 2018 and June 30, 2018 were approximately $890 million and $1.1 billion, respectively. The decrease from June 30, 2018 was primarily due to the release of the Companys obligations under a bank guarantee benefiting the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The commitments and contingent guarantees above do not include obligations and commitments related to the Transaction and Sky Acquisition (See Note 2  Acquisitions, Disposals and Other Transactions under the heading Disney Transaction/Distribution of FOX and Note 4  Investments under the heading Sky). Hulu The Company has guaranteed $113 million of Hulus $338 million five-year term loan due in August 2022 which is included in the contingent guarantees above. The fair value of this guarantee was calculated using Level 3 inputs and was included in the Consolidated Balance Sheets in Other liabilities. In addition to the contingent guarantees mentioned above, the Company is party to capital funding agreements related to Hulu (See Note 4  Investments under the heading Hulu). Contingencies FOX News Channel The Company and certain of its current and former employees have been subject to allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination and racial discrimination relating to alleged misconduct at the Companys FOX News business. The Company has resolved many of these claims and is contesting other claims in litigation. The Company has also received regulatory and investigative inquiries relating to these matters. To date, none of the amounts paid in settlements or reserved for pending or future claims, is individually or in the aggregate, material to the Company. The amount of liability, if any, that may result from these or related matters cannot be estimated at this time. However, the Company does not currently anticipate that the ultimate resolution of any such pending matters will have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial condition, future results of operations or liquidity. U.K. Newspaper Matters Indemnity In connection with the News Corp Separation (as defined in Note 4  Discontinued Operations in the 2018 Form 10-K under the heading Separation of News Corp), the Company and News Corporation (News Corp) agreed in the News Corp Separation and Distribution Agreement that the Company will indemnify News Corp, on an after-tax basis, for payments made after the News Corp Separation arising out of civil claims and investigations relating to phone hacking, illegal data access and inappropriate payments to public officials that occurred at subsidiaries of News Corp, as well as legal and professional fees and expenses paid in connection with the related criminal matters, other than fees, expenses and costs relating to employees who are not (i) directors, officers or certain designated employees or (ii) with respect to civil matters, co-defendants with News Corp (the Indemnity). The liability related to the Indemnity, recorded in the Consolidated Balance Sheets, was approximately $45 million and $50 million as of September 30, 2018 and June 30, 2018, respectively. Other Equity purchase arrangements that are exercisable by the counterparty to the agreement, and that are outside the sole control of the Company, are accounted for in accordance with ASC 480-10-S99-3A and are classified as Redeemable noncontrolling interests in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Other than the arrangements classified as Redeemable noncontrolling interests, the Company is also a party to several other purchase and sale arrangements which become exercisable at various points in time. However, these arrangements are currently either not exercisable in the next twelve months or are not material. The Company establishes an accrued liability for legal claims when the Company determines that a loss is both probable and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Once established, accruals are adjusted from time to time, as appropriate, in light of additional information. The amount of any loss ultimately incurred in relation to matters for which an accrual has been established may be higher or lower than the amounts accrued for such matters. Any fees, expenses, fines, penalties, judgments or settlements which might be incurred by the Company in connection with the various proceedings could affect the Companys results of operations and financial condition. For the contingencies disclosed above for which there is at least a reasonable possibility that a loss may be incurred, other than the accrual provided, the Company was unable to estimate the amount of loss or range of loss. The Companys operations are subject to tax in various domestic and international jurisdictions and as a matter of course, the Company is regularly audited by federal, state and foreign tax authorities. The Company believes it has appropriately accrued for the expected outcome of all pending tax matters and does not currently anticipate that the ultimate resolution of pending tax matters will have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial condition, future results of operations or liquidity.