Organization and Business Activities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Organization and Business Activities

Organization and Business Activities

1.Organization and Business Activities

Principal Business

DISH DBS Corporation (which together with its subsidiaries is referred to as “DISH DBS,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” and/or “our,” unless otherwise required by the context) is a holding company and an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of DISH Network Corporation (“DISH Network”).  DISH DBS was formed under Colorado law in January 1996 and its common stock is held by DISH Orbital Corporation (“DOC”), a direct subsidiary of DISH Network.  Our subsidiaries operate one business segment.

Pay-TV

We offer pay-TV services under the DISH® brand and the Sling® brand (collectively “Pay-TV” services).  The DISH branded pay-TV service consists of, among other things, Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) licenses authorizing us to use direct broadcast satellite (“DBS”) and Fixed Satellite Service (“FSS”) spectrum, our owned and leased satellites, receiver systems, broadcast operations, customer service facilities, a leased fiber optic network, in-home service and call center operations, and certain other assets utilized in our operations (“DISH TV”).  The Sling branded pay-TV services consist of, among other things, live, linear streaming over-the-top (“OTT”) Internet-based domestic, international and Latino video programming services (“Sling TV”).  As of December 31, 2017, we had 13.242 million Pay-TV subscribers in the United States,  including 11.030 million DISH TV subscribers and 2.212 million Sling TV subscribers.

As a result of the completion of the Share Exchange with EchoStar, described below, we also design, develop and distribute receiver systems and provide digital broadcast operations, including satellite uplinking/downlinking, transmission and other services to third-party pay-TV providers.  See Note 2 and Note 16 for further information.