EchoStar CORP: Form 10-Q for the period ended Jun 30, 2024

Free cash flow can be significantly impacted from period to period by changes in “Net income (loss)” adjusted to exclude certain non-cash charges, operating assets and liabilities, “Purchases of property and equipment,” net of “Refunds and other receipts of purchases of property and equipment,” and “Capitalized interest related to Regulatory authorizations.” These items are shown in the “Net cash flows from operating activities” and “Net cash flows from investing activities” sections on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows included herein. Operating asset and liability balances can fluctuate significantly from period to period and there can be no assurance that free cash flow will not be negatively impacted by material changes in operating assets and liabilities in future periods, since these changes depend upon, among other things, management’s timing of payments and control of inventory levels, and cash receipts. In addition to fluctuations resulting from changes in operating assets and liabilities, free cash flow can vary significantly from period to period depending upon, among other things, subscriber additions (losses), service revenue, subscriber churn, subscriber acquisition and retention costs including amounts capitalized under our equipment lease programs for DISH TV subscribers, operating efficiencies, increases or decreases in purchases of property and equipment, expenditures related to our 5G Network Deployment and other factors.

The following table reconciles free cash flow to “Net cash flows from operating activities.”

(In thousands)

Operational Liquidity

We make general investments in property such as, among others, satellites, wireless devices, set-top boxes, information technology and facilities that support our Pay-TV, Retail Wireless and Broadband and Satellite Services segments. We are also making significant additional investments and may partner with others to, among other things, continue our 5G Network Deployment and further commercialize, build-out and integrate our Wireless spectrum licenses and related assets. Moreover, since we are primarily a subscriber-based company, we also make subscriber-specific investments to acquire new subscribers and retain existing subscribers. While the general investments may be deferred without impacting the business in the short-term, the subscriber-specific investments are less discretionary. Our overall objective is to generate sufficient cash flow over the life of each subscriber to provide an adequate return against the upfront investment. Once the upfront investment has been made for each subscriber, the subsequent cash flow is generally positive, but there can be no assurance that over time we will recoup or earn a return on the upfront investment.

There are a number of factors that impact our future cash flow compared to the cash flow we generate at a given point in time. The first factor is our churn rate and how successful we are at retaining our current subscribers. To the extent we lose subscribers from our existing base, the positive cash flow from that base is correspondingly reduced. The second factor is how successful we are at maintaining our service margins. To the extent our “Cost of services” grow faster than our “Service revenue,” the amount of cash flow that is generated per existing subscriber is reduced. Our Pay-TV service margins have been reduced by, among other things, higher programming costs. Our Retail Wireless service margins are impacted by, among other things, our MNSA agreement with T-Mobile and our NSA agreement with AT&T and the speed with which we are able to migrate Wireless subscribers onto our 5G Network. The third factor is the rate at which we acquire new subscribers. The faster we acquire new subscribers, the more our positive ongoing cash flow from existing subscribers is offset by the negative upfront cash flow associated with acquiring new subscribers. Conversely, the slower we acquire subscribers, the more our operating cash flow is enhanced in that period.

There have been no material changes in our market risk during the six months ended June 30, 2024. For additional information, see Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk in Part II of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Conclusion regarding disclosure controls and procedures

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, we evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based upon that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of the end of the period covered by this report.

Changes in internal control over financial reporting

There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) during our most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.