Dish Network said it lost about 259,000 net new subscribers in the first quarter, nearly three times the 94,000 customers it shed in the prior year.
According to its 10-Q quarterly statement, Dish shed about 266,000 satellite TV customers -- up from a loss of 185,000 in Q1 2018 and gained just 7,000 Sling TV customers, compared to a gain of 91,000 subscribers in the prior year. The company ended the period with 9.639 million DISH TV subscribers and 2.424 million Sling TV subscribers.
The decline -- which may have been driven in part by the ongoing blackout of HBO which began in November, helped drive down revenue by 7.8% to $3.19 billion from $3.46 billion in Q1 2018. Net income also dipped 7.6% to $340 million (65 cents per share) in the period, compared to $368 million (70 cents per share) in the previous year.
