Property and Equipment (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Schedule of property and equipment

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

	For the three months ended March 31,
	2019		2018
	(In thousands)
Buildings and improvements	$	3,487	$	1,709
Furniture, fixtures, equipment and other	20,650		21,696
Customer premises equipment	46,192		43,448
Satellites	73,492		68,161
Total depreciation expense	$	143,821	$	135,014

Property and equipment consisted of the following:

	Depreciable Life In Years	As of
		March 31, 2019			December 31, 2018
		(In thousands)
Land	—	$	33,579		$	33,606
Buildings and improvements	1 to 40	174,262			174,227
Furniture, fixtures, equipment and other	1 to 12	826,622			812,566
Customer premises equipment	2 to 4	1,210,850			1,159,977
Satellites - owned	2 to 15	2,816,629			2,816,628
Satellites - acquired under finance leases	10 to 15	1,050,360			1,051,110
Construction in progress	—	332,343			307,026
Total property and equipment		6,444,645			6,355,140
Accumulated depreciation		(3,081,241		)	(2,940,232		)
Property and equipment, net		$	3,363,404		$	3,414,908

Schedule of construction in progress

Construction in progress consisted of the following:

	As of
	March 31, 2019		December 31, 2018
	(In thousands)
Progress amounts for satellite construction	$	300,447	$	277,583
Satellite related equipment	15,639		13,001
Other	16,257		16,442
Construction in progress	$	332,343	$	307,026