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Organization and Business Activities
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
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.

Recent Developments

Merger with EchoStar

On December 31, 2023, EchoStar completed the acquisition of DISH Network pursuant to the Amended and Restated Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of October 2, 2023 (the “Amended Merger Agreement”), by and among EchoStar, EAV Corp., a Nevada corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary (“Merger Sub”), and DISH Network, pursuant to which EchoStar acquired DISH Network by means of the merger of Merger Sub with and into DISH Network (the “Merger”), with DISH Network surviving the Merger as its wholly owned subsidiary.

For more information and a copy of the Amended Merger Agreement, see the Form 8-K of EchoStar filed on October 3, 2023 and the Form 8-K of EchoStar filed on January 2, 2024.

With the Merger complete, we are currently focused on the process of integrating our and EchoStar’s business in a manner that facilitates synergies, cost savings, growth opportunities and achieves other anticipated benefits (the “Integration”).

Future Capital Requirements

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business.

 

Our cash and cash equivalents and marketable investment securities totaled $374 million as of December 31, 2023 (“Cash on Hand”). As reflected in the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2023, we have $1.983 billion of debt maturing in November 2024.

Because we do not currently have committed financing to fund our operations for at least twelve months from the issuance of these consolidated financial statements, substantial doubt exists about our, our parent, DISH Network’s, and our ultimate parent, EchoStar’s, ability to continue as a going concern. We do not currently have the necessary Cash on Hand and/or projected future cash flows to fund the November 2024 debt maturity. To address our capital needs, we are in active discussions with funding sources to raise additional capital and restructure our outstanding debt. We cannot provide assurances that we will be successful in obtaining such new financing and/or restructuring the existing debt obligations necessary for us to have sufficient liquidity.

In addition, our parent, DISH Network, and our ultimate parent, EchoStar, may not be able to provide additional liquidity in the future.

The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments to the amount and classification of assets and liabilities that may be necessary should we not continue as a going concern.

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, a leased fiber optic network, in-home service and call center operations, and certain other assets utilized in our operations (“DISH TV”). 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. The SLING branded pay-TV services consist of, among other things, multichannel, live-linear and on-demand streaming over-the-top (“OTT”) Internet-based domestic, international, Latino and Freestream video programming services (“SLING TV”). As of December 31, 2023, we had 8.526 million Pay-TV subscribers in the United States, including 6.471 million DISH TV subscribers and 2.055 million SLING TV subscribers.