Property and Equipment (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Schedule of property and equipment

Property and equipment consisted of the following:

	Depreciable Life (In Years)	As of
		September 30, 2016			December 31, 2015
		(In thousands)
Land	—	$	42,453		$	41,457
Buildings and improvements	1-40	370,417			367,947
Furniture, fixtures, equipment and other	1-12	1,329,692			1,254,325
Customer rental equipment	2-4	662,994			588,430
Satellites - owned	2-15	2,381,120			2,381,120
Satellites acquired under capital leases	10-15	782,845			665,518
Construction in progress	—	1,362,572			1,112,267
Total property and equipment		6,932,093			6,411,064
Accumulated depreciation		(3,303,714		)	(2,998,074		)
Property and equipment, net		$	3,628,379		$	3,412,990

Depreciation expense associated with our property and equipment consisted of the following:

	For the Three Months Ended September 30,				For the Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016		2015		2016		2015
	(In thousands)
Satellites	$	46,965	$	51,436	$	140,895	$	149,677
Furniture, fixtures, equipment and other	31,162		29,104		89,247		89,504
Customer rental equipment	28,652		30,839		86,789		91,550
Buildings and improvements	3,065		3,325		9,218		10,183
Total depreciation expense	$	109,844	$	114,704	$	326,149	$	340,914

Schedule of construction in progress

Construction in progress consisted of the following:

	As of
	September 30, 2016		December 31, 2015
	(In thousands)
Progress amounts for satellite construction, including prepayments under capital leases and launch services costs	$	1,154,066	$	963,103
Satellite related equipment	160,702		126,373
Other	47,804		22,791
Construction in progress	$	1,362,572	$	1,112,267

Construction in progress included the following owned and leased satellites under construction or undergoing in-orbit testing as of September 30, 2016.

Satellites	Segment	Expected Launch Date
EchoStar XIX	Other	Fourth quarter of 2016
EchoStar XXI	Other	Fourth quarter of 2016/  First quarter of 2017
EchoStar XXIII	Other	Fourth quarter of 2016/  First quarter of 2017
EchoStar 105/SES-11	ESS	First half of 2017
Telesat T19V (“63 West”) (1)	Hughes	Second quarter of 2018

(1) We entered into a satellite services agreement and made prepayments for certain capacity on this satellite once launched, but are not a party to the construction contract.