Property and Equipment (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

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, 2018			December 31, 2017
		(In thousands)
Land	—	$	33,603		$	33,713
Buildings and improvements	1 to 40	184,847			185,148
Furniture, fixtures, equipment and other	1 to 12	772,335			736,533
Customer rental equipment	2 to 4	1,103,408			929,775
Satellites - owned	2 to 15	2,816,628			3,064,391
Satellites - acquired under capital leases	10 to 15	1,045,242			916,820
Construction in progress	—	300,642			260,220
Total property and equipment		6,256,705			6,126,600
Accumulated depreciation		(2,814,168		)	(2,661,129		)
Property and equipment, net		$	3,442,537		$	3,465,471

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,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
	(In thousands)
Buildings and improvements	$	2,972	$	4,641	$	9,057	$	12,292
Furniture, fixtures, equipment and other	20,745		19,511		61,958		54,173
Customer rental equipment	43,584		39,104		129,907		103,781
Satellites	72,545		61,078		211,748		173,293
Total depreciation expense	$	139,846	$	124,334	$	412,670	$	343,539

Schedule of construction in progress

Construction in progress consisted of the following:

	As of
	September 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
	(In thousands)
Progress amounts for satellite construction, including prepayments under capital leases and launch services costs	$	232,599	$	211,765
Satellite related equipment	34,948		28,358
Other	33,095		20,097
Construction in progress	$	300,642	$	260,220

Construction in progress as of September 30, 2018 included our EchoStar XXIV satellite, which is expected to launch in 2021.