Property and Equipment and Intangible Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

Property and Equipment and Intangible Assets

Property and Equipment and Intangible Assets

8.Property and Equipment and Intangible Assets

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment consisted of the following:

	Depreciable Life			As of December 31,
	(In Years)			2024		2023
				(In thousands)
Equipment leased to customers	2	-	5	$	1,784,801	$	1,977,450
Satellites (1)	5	-	15		3,872,664		4,168,766
Satellites acquired under finance lease agreements (2)		15			344,972		712,832
Furniture, fixtures, equipment and other	1	-	20		1,686,992		1,691,389
5G Network Deployment equipment (3)	3	-	15		5,382,706		4,263,327
Software and computer equipment	2	-	8		2,216,007		2,503,597
Buildings and improvements (4)	1	-	40		513,419		538,815
Land (4)		-			42,842		46,675
Construction in progress		-			1,570,275		1,844,338
Total property and equipment					17,414,678		17,747,189
Accumulated depreciation					(8,227,546)		(8,185,355)
Property and equipment, net				$	9,187,132	$	9,561,834

(1) The Spaceway 3 satellite was deorbited in January 2024.

(2) This decrease is primarily related to the Nimiq 5 finance lease that was extended in October 2024 and as a result is currently accounted for as an operating lease.

(3) Includes 5G Network Deployment assets acquired under finance lease agreements.

(4) This decrease resulted from the sale of certain assets to CONX Corp., which closed May 1, 2024. See Note 18 for further information.

Construction in progress consisted of the following:

	As of December 31,
	2024		2023
	(In thousands)
Pay-TV	$	268,423	$	162,055
Wireless		1,276,393		1,639,945
Broadband and Satellite Services		25,459		42,338
Total construction in progress	$	1,570,275	$	1,844,338

Depreciation and amortization expense consisted of the following:

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2024		2023		2022
	(In thousands)
Equipment leased to customers	$	283,099	$	329,449	$	400,651
Satellites		293,260		264,433		268,994
Buildings, furniture, fixtures, equipment and other		124,123		144,722		98,762
5G Network Deployment equipment		718,729		371,640		29,992
Software and computer equipment		374,953		270,200		185,538
Intangible assets and other amortization expense		136,029		217,479		190,958
Total depreciation and amortization	$	1,930,193	$	1,597,923	$	1,174,895

Cost of sales and operating expense categories included in our accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss) do not include depreciation and amortization expense related to satellites, equipment leased to customers, or our 5G Network Deployment equipment and software, and amortization of development costs of externally marketed software.

Activity relating to our asset retirement obligations was as follows:

	As of December 31,
	2024		2023
	(In thousands)
Balance, beginning of period	$	278,287	$	183,135
Liabilities incurred		20,929		74,189
Accretion expense		27,815		20,963
Balance, end of period	$	327,031	$	278,287
Total included in Other long-term liabilities	$	327,031	$	278,287

The corresponding assets, net of accumulated depreciation, related to asset retirement obligations were $216 million and $217 million as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Satellites Pay-TV Segment

Our Pay-TV segment currently utilizes nine satellites in geosynchronous orbit approximately 22,300 miles above the equator, seven of which we own and depreciate over their estimated useful life. We also lease two satellites from third parties: Anik F3 and Nimiq 5, which are accounted for as operating leases. Through the third quarter of 2024, our Nimiq 5 satellite was accounted for as finance lease within our Pay-TV segment. However, during October 2024, we extended the Nimiq 5 lease and as a result it is currently accounted for as an operating lease.

As of December 31, 2024, our Pay-TV segment satellite fleet consisted of the following:

		Degree	Lease
	Launch	Orbital	Termination
Satellites	Date	Location	Date
Owned:
EchoStar X	February 2006	110	N/A
EchoStar XI	July 2008	110	N/A
EchoStar XIV	March 2010	119	N/A
EchoStar XV	July 2010	61.5	N/A
EchoStar XVI	November 2012	61.5	N/A
EchoStar XVIII	June 2016	61.5	N/A
EchoStar XXIII	March 2017	110	N/A
Under Construction:
EchoStar XXV	2026	110	N/A
Leased from Other Third-Party:
Anik F3	April 2007	118.7	April 2025
Nimiq 5	September 2009	72.7	October 2029

Satellite Under Construction

EchoStar XXV. On March 20, 2023, we entered into a contract with Maxar Space LLC for the construction of EchoStar XXV, a DBS satellite that is capable of providing service to the continental United States (“CONUS”) and is intended to be used at the 110 degree orbital location. During the fourth quarter of 2023, we entered into an agreement with Space Exploration Technologies Corp (“SpaceX”) for launch services for this satellite, which is expected to be launched during 2026.

Satellites - Broadband and Satellite Services Segment

Our Broadband and Satellite Services segment currently utilizes nine satellites in geosynchronous orbit approximately 22,300 miles above the equator, six of which we own and depreciate over their estimated useful life. We also lease three satellites from third parties, which are accounted for as finance leases and are depreciated over their economic life.

As of December 31, 2024, our Broadband and Satellite Services segment satellite fleet consisted of the following:

		Degree	Lease
	Launch	Orbital	Termination
Satellites	Date	Location	Date
Owned:
EchoStar IX	August 2003	121	N/A
EchoStar XVII	July 2012	107	N/A
EchoStar XIX	December 2016	97.1	N/A
EchoStar XXI	June 2017	10.25	N/A
Al Yah 3	January 2018	20	N/A
EchoStar XXIV	July 2023	95.2	N/A
Leased from Other Third-Party:
Eutelsat 65 West A	March 2016	65	July 2031
Telesat T19V	July 2018	63	August 2033
EchoStar 105/SES-11	October 2017	105	November 2029

In addition to the satellites listed above, during 2025 we have launched and will launch certain satellites in connection with additional business opportunities.

Satellite Anomalies and Impairments

Operation of our DISH TV services requires that we have adequate satellite transmission capacity for the programming that we offer. While we generally have had in-orbit satellite capacity sufficient to transmit our existing channels and some backup capacity to recover the transmission of certain critical programming, our backup capacity is limited.

In the event of a failure or loss of any of our owned or leased satellites, we may need to acquire or lease additional satellite capacity or relocate one of our other owned or leased satellites and use it as a replacement for the failed or lost satellite. Such a failure could result in a prolonged loss of critical programming or a significant delay in our plans to expand programming as necessary to remain competitive and thus may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In the past, certain of our owned and leased satellites have experienced anomalies, some of which have had a significant adverse impact on their remaining useful life and/or commercial operation. There can be no assurance that future anomalies will not impact the remaining useful life and/or commercial operation of any of the owned and leased satellites in our fleet. See Note 2 for further information on evaluation of impairment. There can be no assurance that we can recover critical transmission capacity in the event one or more of our owned or leased in-orbit satellites were to fail. We are not aware of any anomalies with respect to our owned or leased satellites that have had any such significant adverse effect during the year ended December 31, 2024.

We generally do not carry commercial in-orbit insurance on any of the satellites that we own and therefore, we will bear the risk associated with any uninsured in-orbit satellite failures. Pursuant to the terms of our joint venture agreement with Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PrJSC (“Yahsat”) in Brazil in 2019, we are required to maintain insurance for the Al Yah 3 Brazilian payload during the commercial in-orbit service of such payload, subject to certain limitations on coverage. The insurance policies were procured by Yahsat, under which we and Yahsat are the beneficiaries of any claims in proportion to their shareholdings. An insurance claim was submitted in the second quarter of 2023 for compensation with respect to the reduction in estimated useful life of the Al Yah 3 satellite. As of December 31, 2024, we have yet to receive any compensation from the insurance claim. We will continue to assess circumstances going forward and make insurance-related decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Intangible Assets

As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, our identifiable intangibles, including intangibles subject to amortization and non-amortizing intangibles, consisted of the following:

	As of December 31,
	2024				2023
	Intangible		Accumulated		Intangible		Accumulated
	Assets		Amortization		Assets		Amortization
	(In thousands)
Technology-based	$	115,173	$	(112,557)	$	115,166	$	(111,989)
Trademarks		164,834		(101,522)		164,834		(90,326)
Contract-based		41,500		(41,500)		41,500		(41,500)
Customer relationships		902,753		(893,742)		902,858		(807,651)
Total	$	1,224,260	$	(1,149,321)	$	1,224,358	$	(1,051,466)

These identifiable intangibles are included in “Intangible assets, net” on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. Amortization of these intangible assets is recorded on a straight-line basis over an average finite useful life primarily ranging from approximately two to 20 years. Amortization was $98 million, $183 million and $156 million for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Estimated future amortization of our identifiable intangible assets as of December 31, 2024, excluding non-amortizing intangibles, is as follows:

For the Years Ending December 31,	Total
	(In thousands)
2025	$	15,791
2026		14,094
2027		12,851
2028		12,357
2029		11,767
Thereafter		7,850
Total	$	74,710

Goodwill

Goodwill represents the excess of the consideration transferred over the estimated fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed as of the acquisition date and is not subject to amortization but is subject to impairment testing annually or whenever indicators of impairment arise.

During the year ended December 31, 2023 we recorded a noncash impairment charge for goodwill of $758 million in “Impairment of long-lived assets and goodwill” on our Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss). See Note 2 for further information. The non-recurring measurement of fair value of goodwill is classified as Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, we have zero goodwill recorded on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Regulatory Authorizations – Pay-TV and Wireless Segments

As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, our Regulatory Authorizations with indefinite lives consisted of the following:

		As of December 31,
	Segment	2024		2023
		(In thousands)
DBS Licenses	Pay-TV	$	677,409	$	677,409
700 MHz Licenses	Wireless		701,803		711,871
AWS-4 Licenses	Wireless		1,928,688		1,940,000
H Block Licenses	Wireless		1,671,506		1,671,506
600 MHz Licenses	Wireless		6,192,575		6,213,335
MVDDS Licenses	Wireless		24,000		24,000
28 GHz Licenses	Wireless		2,883		2,883
24 GHz Licenses	Wireless		11,772		11,772
37 GHz, 39 GHz & 47 GHz Licenses	Wireless		202,392		202,533
3550-3650 MHz Licenses	Wireless		912,200		912,939
3.7-3.98 GHz Licenses	Wireless		2,969		2,969
3.45-3.55 GHz Licenses	Wireless		7,329,093		7,327,989
1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz and 2155-2180 MHz	Wireless		972		972
AWS-3 (1)	Wireless		9,829,287		5,618,930
SNR (1)	Wireless		—		4,271,459
Subtotal			29,487,549		29,590,567
Capitalized Interest (1)			9,502,912		8,523,682
Total		$	38,990,461	$	38,114,249

(1) See Note 2 for further information.

Regulatory Authorizations – Broadband and Satellite Services Segment

As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, our Regulatory Authorizations for our Broadband and Satellite Services segment with indefinite lives consisted of the following:

	As of December 31,
	2024		2023
	(In thousands)
95 W	$	200,000	$	200,000
107 W		200,000		200,000
Sirion-1 Filing		39,160		39,160
Total	$	439,160	$	439,160

As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, our Regulatory Authorizations with finite lives consisted of the following:

	As of December 31,
	2024				2023
	Finite Lived		Accumulated		Finite Lived		Accumulated
	Assets		Amortization		Assets		Amortization
	(In thousands)
Total	$	53,160	$	(40,615)	$	58,061	$	(38,490)

These identifiable intangibles are included in “Regulatory Authorizations, net” on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. Amortization of these intangible assets is recorded on a straight-line basis over an average finite useful life of thirteen years. Amortization was $5 million, $5 million and $4 million for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Foreign currency translation adjustments were losses of $2 million, gains of $1 million and losses of $2 million for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Estimated future amortization of our Regulatory Authorizations as of December 31, 2024 is as follows (in thousands):

For the Years Ending December 31,	Total
	(In thousands)
2025	$	3,817
2026		3,767
2027		1,707
2028		482
2029		482
Thereafter		2,290
Total	$	12,545