Property and Equipment (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015


	Depreciable
	Life			As of December 31,
	(In Years)			2015		2014
				(In thousands)
Equipment leased to customers	2	-	5	$	3,549,701	$	3,639,607
EchoStar XV			15		277,658		277,658
D1		N/A			55,000		150,000
T1			15		401,721		401,721
Satellites acquired under capital lease agreements	10	-	15		499,819		499,819
Furniture, fixtures, equipment and other	1	-	10		775,834		747,139
Buildings and improvements	1	-	40		86,928		85,509
Land			—		5,504		5,504
Construction in progress			—		382,464		774,567
Total property and equipment					6,034,629		6,581,524
Accumulated depreciation					(3,110,449)		(2,807,985)
Property and equipment, net				$	2,924,180	$	3,773,539

Schedule of Construction in progress

	As of December 31,
	2015		2014
	(In thousands)
Capitalized interest on FCC authorizations (1)	$	—	$	456,360
EchoStar XVIII, including capitalized interest		346,417		271,497
Other		36,047		46,710
Total construction in progress	$	382,464	$	774,567

(1)

During the fourth quarter 2015, we reclassified capitalized interest related to certain FCC authorizations on our Consolidated Balance Sheets from construction in progress within “Property and equipment, net,” to “FCC authorizations,” which is the qualifying asset on which interest is capitalized. See Note 2 for further information.

Schedule of depreciation and amortization expense


	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013
	(In thousands)
Equipment leased to customers	$	824,799	$	854,759	$	763,796
Satellites (1)		87,827		95,766		135,464
Buildings, furniture, fixtures, equipment and other (2)		87,422		127,411		154,766
Total depreciation and amortization	$	1,000,048	$	1,077,936	$	1,054,026

(1)

Depreciation and amortization expense decreased $40 million in 2014 as a result of the Satellite and Tracking Stock Transaction. See Note 6 and Note 19 for further information.

(2)

During 2013, we ceased operations of our TerreStar Mobile Satellite Service (“MSS”) business, which had less than 2,000 customers and had less than $1 million in revenue. As a result, we accelerated the depreciable lives of certain assets designed to support this business and the remaining net book value of $53 million was fully depreciated in 2013.

Schedule Of Satellites


			Estimated
			Useful Life
			(Years) /
		Degree	Lease
	Launch	Orbital	Termination
Satellites	Date	Location	Date
Owned:
EchoStar XV	July 2010	61.5	15

Under Construction:
EchoStar XVIII	Second quarter 2016	110	15

Leased from EchoStar (1):
EchoStar VII (2)(3)	February 2002	119	June 2017
EchoStar IX	August 2003	121	Month to month
EchoStar X (2)(3)	February 2006	110	February 2021
EchoStar XI (2)(3)	July 2008	110	September 2021
EchoStar XII (3)	July 2003	61.5	September 2017
EchoStar XIV (2)(3)	March 2010	119	February 2023
EchoStar XVI (4)	November 2012	61.5	January 2017
Nimiq 5	September 2009	72.7	September 2019
QuetzSat-1	September 2011	77	November 2021

Leased from Other Third Party:
Anik F3	April 2007	118.7	April 2022
Ciel II	December 2008	129	January 2019

(1)

See Note 19 for further information on our Related Party Transactions with EchoStar.

(2)

On February 20, 2014, we entered into the Satellite and Tracking Stock Transaction with EchoStar pursuant to which, among other things, we transferred these satellites to EchoStar and lease back all available capacity on these satellites. See Note 6 and Note 19 for further information.

(3)

We generally have the option to renew each lease on a year-to-year basis through the end of the useful life of the respective satellite.

(4)

We have the option to renew this lease for an additional six-year period. If we exercise our six-year renewal option, we have the option to renew this lease for an additional five years.

Schedule of identifiable intangibles subject to amortization


	As of
	December 31, 2015				December 31, 2014
	Intangible		Accumulated		Intangible		Accumulated
	Assets		Amortization		Assets		Amortization
		(In thousands)
Technology-based	$	14,510	$	(6,297)	$	7,210	$	(4,445)
Trademarks		16,257		(2,512)		19,704		(5,644)
Contract-based		8,650		(8,650)		8,650		(8,650)
Customer relationships		2,900		(2,900)		2,900		(2,900)
Total	$	42,317	$	(20,359)	$	38,464	$	(21,639)

Schedule of estimated future amortization of identifiable intangible assets

Estimated future amortization of our identifiable intangible assets as of December 31, 2015 is as follows (in thousands):


For the Years Ended December 31,
2016	$	5,045
2017		3,687
2018		2,902
2019		2,770
2020		1,962
Thereafter		5,592
Total	$	21,958

Schedule of FCC authorizations

	As of December 31,
	2015		2014
		(In thousands)
DBS Licenses	$	611,794	$	611,794
700 MHz Licenses		711,871		711,871
MVDDS Licenses		24,000		24,000
AWS-4 Licenses		1,949,000		1,949,000
H-Block Licenses		1,671,506		1,671,506
AWS-3 Licenses (1)		9,890,389		—
Capitalized Interest (2)		809,044		—
Total	$	15,667,604	$	4,968,171

(1)

On October 27, 2015, the FCC granted the AWS-3 Licenses to Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless, respectively. See Note 15 for further information.

(2)

During the fourth quarter 2015, we have changed the classification of capitalized interest related to certain FCC authorizations on our Consolidated Balance Sheets from construction in progress within “Property and equipment, net,” to “FCC authorizations,” which is the qualifying asset on which interest is capitalized. See Note 2 for further information.