Consolidation
Time Warner consolidates all variable interest entities (“VIEs”) in which the Company is deemed to be the primary beneficiary and all other entities in which it has a controlling voting interest. An entity is generally a VIE if it meets any of the following criteria: (i) the entity has insufficient equity to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support from other parties, (ii) the equity investors cannot make significant decisions about the entity's operations or (iii) the voting rights of some investors are not proportional to their obligations to absorb the expected losses of the entity or receive the expected returns of the entity and substantially all of the entity's activities involve or are conducted on behalf of the investor with disproportionately few voting rights. Time Warner periodically makes judgments in determining whether its investees are VIEs and, each reporting period, the Company assesses whether it is the primary beneficiary of any of its VIEs. Entities determined to be VIEs primarily consist of HBO Latin America Group (“HBO LAG”) because the Company's ownership and voting rights in this entity are disproportionate. HBO LAG operates multi-channel premium pay and basic tier television services in Latin America and is accounted for using the equity method. See Note 4 for additional information.
At December 31, 2012, HBO Asia and HBO South Asia were also considered VIEs of the Company. During 2013, the Company purchased the remaining interests in these entities and began consolidating their financial results from the acquisition date. See Note 3 for additional information.