Commitments and Contingencies |
Note6: Commitments and Contingencies
Commitments
At September30, 2009, our minimum payments under agreements to purchase broadcast programming, and the purchase of services that we have outsourced to third parties, such as billing services, and satellite telemetry, tracking and control, satellite construction and launch contracts and broadcast center services aggregated $8,539million, payable as follows: $455million in the remainder of 2009, $1,606million in 2010, $1,625million in 2011, $1,751million in 2012, $1,357million in 2013 and $1,745million thereafter.
Contingencies
Litigation
Litigation is subject to uncertainties and the outcome of individual litigated matters is not predictable with assurance. Various legal actions, claims and proceedings are pending against us arising in the ordinary course of business. We have established loss provisions for matters in which losses are probable and can be reasonably estimated. Some of the matters may involve compensatory, punitive, or treble damage claims, or demands that, if granted, could require us to pay damages or make other expenditures in amounts that could not be estimated at September30, 2009. After discussion with counsel representing us in those actions, it is the opinion of management that such litigation is not expected to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations or financial position.
Finisar Corporation. As previously reported, we filed a notice of appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on October5, 2006 from a jury determination that The DIRECTV Group,Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries willfully infringed a patent owned by Finisar Corporation and awards of approximately $117million in damages and pre-judgment interest. DIRECTV was also ordered to pay into escrow $1.60 per new set-top receiver manufactured for use with the DIRECTV system beginning June17, 2006 and continuing until the patent expires in 2012 or was otherwise found to be invalid. On April18, 2008, the Court of Appeals vacated (set aside) the verdict of infringement, and sent the case back to the district court for further proceedings and possible retrial on a limited number of claims. On remand, we sought and obtained summary judgment of invalidity of all remaining claims, and the case against DIRECTV was dismissed on May19, 2009. Finisar has filed a Notice of Appeal, and a briefing schedule for the new appeal has been set.
Satellites
We may purchase in-orbit and launch insurance to mitigate the potential financial impact of satellite launch and in-orbit failures if the premium costs are considered economic relative to the risk of satellite failure. The insurance generally covers the unamortized book value of covered satellites. We do not insure against lost revenues in the event of a total or partial loss of the capacity of a satellite. We generally rely on in-orbit spare satellites and excess transponder capacity at key orbital slots to mitigate the impact a satellite failure could have on our ability to provide service. At September30, 2009, the net book value of in-orbit satellites was $1,559million, all of which was uninsured.
Subsequent Event |