Hughes Satellite Systems Files Chapter 11 With $1.54B Debt as Noteholders Seek Examiner

Hughes Satellite Systems Corporation and 11 U.S. subsidiaries filed voluntary chapter 11 petitions on August 2, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, under lead case number 26-90739. The filing came without a prenegotiated restructuring agreement, one day after roughly $1.5 billion in senior notes matured and could not be repaid or refinanced. EchoStar itself and Hughes's international subsidiaries are not debtors in the case.

Less than a week after the petition, the case had already produced a contested cash-collateral fight and a request for an independent examiner; by August 24, the U.S. Trustee had filed its own motion seeking the same relief. Holders of a supermajority of Hughes's bonds moved on August 5 for the appointment of an examiner under section 1104(c), pointing to prepetition dividends and satellite-lease payments made to parent EchoStar, and the U.S. Trustee filed a separate emergency examiner motion three weeks later, citing $774 million of unsecured debt it says meets the statutory appointment threshold. At an August 26 hearing, the court granted both examiner motions and directed the U.S. Trustee to appoint an examiner, leaving the examiner's scope and budget for a September 17 hearing. Two days later, the court entered a corrected second interim cash-collateral order extending Hughes's borrowing authority through September 25 and pushing the cash-collateral fight's final hearing to that date.