PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS

PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS

NOTE 7.   PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment consisted of the following:

					As of December 31,
	Depreciable Life				2024		2023
	(In years)				(In thousands)
Equipment leased to customers		2	-	4	$	865,003	$	883,565
Satellites (1)		5	-	15		1,210,437		1,506,541
Satellites acquired under finance lease agreements (2)			15			344,972		368,384
Furniture, fixtures, equipment and other		1	-	12		682,614		683,246
Software and computer equipment		1	-	5		300,255		293,908
Buildings and improvements		1	-	30		129,779		115,354
Land			-			13,460		13,547
Construction in progress			-			7,980		28,217
Total property and equipment						3,554,500		3,892,762
Accumulated depreciation						(2,457,310)		(2,642,688)
Property and equipment, net					$	1,097,190	$	1,250,074

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

(2) The change in value of our satellites acquired under finance lease agreements is due to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates

Depreciation and amortization expense consisted of the following:

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2024		2023		2022
	(In thousands)
Equipment leased to customers	$	114,143	$	168,656	$	221,645
Satellites		105,139		105,717		99,865
Buildings, furniture, fixtures, equipment and other		83,683		53,445		47,391
Software and computer equipment		25,963		28,359		28,074
Intangible assets and other amortization expense		36,974		33,455		34,090
Total depreciation and amortization	$	365,902	$	389,632	$	431,065

Satellites

As of December 31, 2024, our satellite fleet consisted of eight satellites in geosynchronous orbit, approximately 22,300 miles above the equator, four of which we own and depreciate over their estimated useful life. We also lease four satellites, three of which are accounted for as finance leases and are depreciated over their economic life and one of which we lease from an affiliate which is accounted for as an operating lease.

As of December 31, 2024, our satellite fleet in service consisted of the following:

		Degree Orbital	Lease
		Location	Termination
Satellites	Launch Date	(Longitude)	Date
Owned:
EchoStar XVII	July 2012	107 W	N/A
EchoStar XIX	December 2016	97.1 W	N/A
Al Yah 3 ("AY3")	January 2018	20 W	N/A
EchoStar IX	August 2003	121 W	N/A
Finance leases:
Eutelsat 65 West A	March 2016	65 W	July 2031
Telesat T19V	July 2018	63 W	August 2033
EchoStar 105/SES‑11	October 2017	105 W	November 2029
Operating leases:
EchoStar XXIV	July 2023	95.2 W	December 2030

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

The following table presents capitalized interest associated with our satellites and satellite-related ground infrastructure:

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2024		2023		2022
	(In thousands)
Capitalized interest	$	—	$	10,115	$	8,712

Satellite-Related Commitments

As of December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023 our satellite-related commitments, excluding in-orbit incentives, were $43 million and $193 million, respectively. These include payments pursuant to regulatory authorizations, non-lease costs associated with our finance lease satellites, and commitments for satellite service arrangements.

In certain circumstances, the dates on which we are obligated to pay our contractual obligations could change.

Satellite Anomalies and Impairments

Our satellites may experience anomalies from time to time, some of which may have a significant adverse effect on their remaining useful lives, the commercial operation of the satellites or our operating results or financial position.

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.

Fair Value of In-Orbit Incentives

As of December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the fair values of our in-orbit incentive obligations approximated their carrying amounts of $41 million and $46 million, respectively.

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 Assets		Accumulated Amortization		Intangible Assets		Accumulated Amortization
	(In thousands)
Customer relationships	$	274,155	$	(272,602)	$	274,260	$	(271,873)
Patents		51,400		(51,400)		51,400		(51,400)
Trademarks and licenses		29,700		(20,171)		29,700		(18,686)
Total	$	355,255	$	(344,173)	$	355,360	$	(341,959)

These identifiable intangibles are included in “Other 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 5 to 20 years. Amortization was $2 million, $2 million and $2 million for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Future Amortization

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	$	2,256
2026		2,256
2027		1,496
2028		1,485
2029		1,485
Thereafter		2,104
Total	$	11,082

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 $533 million in “Impairment of long-lived assets and goodwill” on our Consolidated Statements of Operations. 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

As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, our Regulatory Authorizations 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
Total	$	400,000	$	400,000

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 Assets		Accumulated Amortization		Finite Lived Assets		Accumulated Amortization
	(In thousands)
Total	$	10,295	$	(5,597)	$	12,754	$	(4,935)

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 11 years. Amortization was $2 million, $2 million and $1 million for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 respectively. Foreign currency translation adjustments were gains of $1 million, losses of less than $1 million and losses of less than $1 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:

For the Years Ending December 31,		Total
		(In thousands)
2025	$	480
2026		482
2027		482
2028		482
2029		482
Thereafter		2,290
Total	$	4,698