Dish Loses Subscribers on Both Satellite and Sling TV

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Earnings fall 31% with revenue down 6% and pay-TV customers down by 462,000

A Dish technician standing outside a company van.
(Image credit: Dish)

Dish Network said it lost 462,000 customers in the first quarter, a big drop compared to the 273,000 subs it lost in the fourth quarter and 230,000 a year ago.

Cord-cutting continued with Dish finishing the quarter with 10.24 million pay-TV subscribers, down from 10.71 million in the fourth quarter and 11.06 million a year ago.

Dish’s Sling TV streaming virtual MVPD lost 240,000 subscribers, finishing the quarter with 2.25 million customers. Sling finished the fourth quarter with 2.49 million subscribers and had 2.37 million subscribers a year ago. 

Also: Dish Network Stock Hits New 52-Week Low

Sling TV had a $5 price increase during last year’s fourth quarter.

Satellite subscribers declined to 7.99 million from 8.22 million in the fourth quarter and 8.69 million a year ago.

First quarter earnings dropped 31% to $433 million, or 68 cents a share, from $630 million, or 99 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue fell 6% to $4.33 billion from $4.59 billion a year ago. ■

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.