Dish Network 2015 Annual Report Download - page 19

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Satellites Under Construction
EchoStar XVIII. On September 7, 2012, we entered into a contract with Space Systems/Loral, Inc. (“SS/L”) for the
construction of EchoStar XVIII, a DBS satellite with spot beam technology designed for, among other things, HD
programming. During October 2013, we entered into an agreement with ArianeSpace S.A. (“Ariane”) for launch
services for this satellite, which is expected to launch during the second quarter 2016.
Satellite Anomalies
Operation of our DISH branded pay-TV service requires that we have adequate satellite transmission capacity for the
programming that we offer. Moreover, current competitive conditions require that we continue to expand our offering of
new programming. 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 “Impairment of Long-Lived Assets” in Note 2 in the Notes to our Consolidated Financial
Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K 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 generally do not carry commercial launch or in-orbit insurance on any of the owned or leased
satellites that we use, other than certain satellites leased from third parties, and therefore, we will bear the risk associated
with any uninsured in-orbit satellite failures. In light of current favorable market conditions, during January 2016, we
procured commercial launch and in-orbit insurance (for a period of one year following launch) for the EchoStar XVIII
satellite, which is expected to launch during the second quarter 2016.
AWS-4 Satellites. We own two in-orbit AWS-4 satellites (D1 and T1). See the table below for further information.
Degree Estimated
Launch Orbital Useful Life
Satellites Date Location (Years)
Owned:
T1 July 2009 111.1
15
D1 April 2008 92.85 N/A
GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS
Our operations, particularly our pay-TV and broadband operations, and our wireless spectrum licenses are subject to
significant government regulation and oversight, primarily by the FCC and, to a certain extent, by Congress, other
federal agencies and foreign, state and local authorities. Depending upon the circumstances, noncompliance with
legislation or regulations promulgated by these authorities could result in limitations on, or the suspension or revocation
of, our licenses or registrations, the termination or loss of contracts or the imposition of contractual damages, civil fines
or criminal penalties, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results
of operations. These governmental authorities could also adopt regulations or take other actions that would adversely
affect our business prospects.