v3.25.2
Organization and Business Activities
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2025
Organization and Business Activities  
Organization and Business Activities

1.Organization and Business Activities

Principal Business

DISH Network Corporation is a holding company. Its subsidiaries (which together with DISH Network Corporation are referred to as “DISH Network,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” and/or “our,” unless otherwise required by the context) currently operate two primary business segments. DISH Network is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (“EchoStar”), a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market (“NASDAQ”) under the symbol “SATS.”

Recent Developments

EchoStar received a letter from the Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) on May 9, 2025, indicating that the FCC was beginning a review of EchoStar’s and our compliance with certain obligations to provide 5G broadband service and raising certain questions regarding the September 2024 build-out extension granted by the FCC and mobile-satellite service (“MSS”) utilization in the 2 GHz band (the “Letter”). We collectively responded to the FCC’s subsequent public notices with filings on May 27, 2025 and June 6, 2025. On June 11, 2025, our Chairman met with the FCC; during this meeting we explained that any reconsideration of the September 2024 grant of our construction deadline extensions, any after-the-fact change to the criteria upon which our build-out is judged, or any decision to upend the 2 GHz band’s sharing rules would threaten the viability of our current operations and future plans. While no resolution has been achieved yet, and it is possible that no such resolution will ultimately be achieved, we continue to explore an acceptable resolution of the FCC’s stated concerns in a manner that minimizes disruption to our businesses and lifts the regulatory uncertainty created by the inquiries. The FCC review has introduced the possibility of reversing prior FCC grants of authority to us and EchoStar. This uncertainty over our spectrum rights has effectively frozen our ability to make decisions regarding our 5G network build-out, has materially adversely impacted our ability to implement and adjust our overall business plan and has required us to re-evaluate the deployment of our resources. In light of the continued uncertainty related to the FCC inquiries, we elected not to make interest payments on a certain portion of our long-term senior notes on their respective scheduled due dates. We subsequently made such payments, including interest on the defaulted interest, within the applicable 30-day grace periods to make such interest payments. See Note 8 for further details. We remain focused on resolving the FCC’s stated concerns. We continue to progress wide-ranging efforts to explore alternative or complementary pathways that could, if successfully implemented, resolve the FCC’s stated concerns in a manner acceptable to us.

Future Capital Requirements

The condensed 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 $830 million as of June 30, 2025 (“Cash on Hand”). As reflected in the condensed consolidated financial statements as of June 30, 2025, we have $2.0 billion of debt maturing in July 2026. In addition, the re-auction of certain AWS-3 licenses previously awarded to Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless has been designated as Auction 113 and the FCC is required to initiate Auction 113 by June 23, 2026. We cannot predict with any degree of certainty the outcome of Auction 113, however, we may be required to make a maximum payment up to approximately $2.921 billion for the Northstar Re-Auction Payment and SNR Re-Auction Payment. See Note 9 for definitions and further details.

Because we do not currently have the necessary Cash on Hand and/or projected future cash flows or committed financing to fund our obligations for at least twelve months from the issuance of these condensed consolidated financial statements, substantial doubt exists about our ability to continue as a going concern. To address our capital needs, we are in active discussions with funding sources to raise additional capital and/or 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, EchoStar, may not be able to provide additional liquidity in the future as substantial doubt exists about their ability to continue as a going concern.

The condensed 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.

Segments

We currently operate two primary business segments: (1) Pay-TV; and (2) Wireless.

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, 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 June 30, 2025, we had 7.108 million Pay-TV subscribers in the United States, including 5.323 million DISH TV subscribers and 1.785 million SLING TV subscribers.

Wireless

Our Wireless segment provides wireless communication services (“Wireless” services) and products. We currently offer our Wireless services for 5G voice over new radio (“5G VoNR”) to over 223 million Americans and for 5G broadband service to over 269 million Americans, as well as a competitive portfolio of wireless devices. We offer nationwide Wireless services to subscribers primarily under our Boost Mobile® and Gen Mobile® brands.

We are currently operating primarily as a mobile virtual network operator (“MVNO”) as we continue to commercialize our Wireless spectrum licenses through the completion of the nation’s first cloud-native, Open Radio Access Network (“O-RAN”) based 5G VoNR and broadband network (our “5G Network”) and grow customer traffic on our 5G Network. We are transitioning to a mobile network operator (“MNO”) as our 5G Network has become commercially available and we grow customer traffic on our 5G Network. We are currently activating Boost Mobile subscribers with compatible devices onto our 5G Network in markets where we have reached 5G VoNR. We currently offer a broad range of premium wireless devices on our 5G Network, including the Apple iPhone 15 and newer generation iPhones, as well as a wide selection of Samsung, Motorola and other premium devices. We have deployed 5G VoNR covering over 223 million Americans.

Within our MVNO operations, today we depend in part on T-Mobile and AT&T to provide us with network services under the amended Master Network Services Agreement (“MNSA”) and Network Services Agreement (the “NSA”), respectively. As of June 30, 2025, we had 7.357 million Wireless subscribers.

We initially invested a total of over $30 billion in Wireless spectrum licenses, and a portion of these licenses were included in the Wireless Spectrum License Exchange and the Sale and Transfer of Assets to EchoStar. We currently have $24 billion of investments related to Wireless spectrum licenses, which does not include $7 billion of capitalized interest related to the carrying value of such licenses. See Note 2, Note 9 and Note 12 for further information. We continue to commercialize our Wireless spectrum licenses through the completion of our 5G Network. We have committed to the FCC to deploy a facilities-based 5G broadband network capable of serving increasingly larger portions of the U.S. population at different deadlines.

We will need to raise additional capital in the future, which may not be available on favorable terms or at all, to fund the efforts described below, as well as, among other things, make any potential Northstar Re-Auction Payment and SNR Re-Auction Payment for the AWS-3 licenses retained by the FCC. There can be no assurance that we will be able to complete all build-out requirements or profitably deploy our Wireless spectrum licenses, which may affect the carrying amount of these assets and our future financial condition or results of operations. See Note 9 for further information.

Our Wireless spectrum licenses are subject to certain interim and final build-out requirements, as well as certain renewal requirements. In September 2024, the FCC conditionally granted our requests to extend the 5G deployment deadlines for certain of our Wireless spectrum licenses based on several commitments and in a January 10, 2025 filing to the FCC, we certified to meeting the accelerated build-out (Commitments #2 and #3 of the Extension Request) and the nationwide 80% coverage obligations (Commitment #1 of the Extension Request) due by December 31, 2024. Thus, pursuant to the Extension Request, the final deployment deadlines for the licenses subject to the Extension Request (listed in Appendix G) shall be extended to December 14, 2026. While the FCC has not yet updated the build-out deadlines in the Universal Licensing System, the licenses remain in effect based upon the submission of our build-out certifications. In addition, the final deployment deadlines for the licenses subject to the Extension Request (listed in Appendix G) shall be further extended to June 14, 2028 as long as we satisfy the remaining Extension Request commitments. See Note 9 for definitions and further details. Also see Note 1 “Recent Developments” for additional information.

We will need to make significant additional investments or partner with others to, among other things, continue our 5G Network deployment and further commercialize, build-out and integrate these licenses and related assets and any additional acquired licenses and related assets, as well as to comply with regulations applicable to such licenses. Depending on the nature and scope of such activities, any such investments or partnerships could vary significantly. In addition, as we continue our 5G Network deployment, we have and may continue to incur significant additional expenses related to, among other things, research and development, wireless testing and ongoing upgrades to the wireless network infrastructure, software and third-party integration. As a result of these investments, among other factors, we will need to raise additional capital, which may not be available on favorable terms or at all. We may also determine that additional wireless spectrum licenses may be required for our 5G Network deployment, which will enhance our ability to compete effectively with other wireless service providers.