Sling TV Group President Warren Schlichting has left the company.
He’ll be replaced by veteran Dish Network programming and marketing executive Michael Schwimmer, who returned to the company last year.
Schlichting had a nine-year run at Dish Network, and was put in charge of all aspects of virtual MVPD Sling TV in December 2017. He also led program licensing negotiations for both the Dish Network satellite TV and Sling TV platforms.
Sling TV has hit a growth wall of late, losing around 375,000 subscribers in the last two quarters. Through March 31, it had 2.31 million customers, down 4.7% year over year.
Sling TV has deployed several aggressive promotional campaigns during the pandemic, essentially offering its programming free of charge. It appears as though subscriber growth in the second quarter hasn't materialized.
Schwimmer is a Stanford MBA who worked at Dish from 1996-2005 before leaving to become CEO of Fuse Media. He becomes the third executive to take over the five-year-old Sling TV platform. Former CEO Roger Lynch fled to Pandora in 2018, shortly after Schlichting was slotted in rung above him.
Separately on Monday, Dish announced several executive moves related to its wireless business. Industry veteran Dave Mayo has joined the company as executive VP of network development. Mayo will oversee Dish's "buildout strategy and execution of the company's deployment of the nation's first standalone 5G network," the company said.
Jeff Blum has been promoted to executive VP of external and legislative affairs. And John Swieringa has been named group president, retail wireless, and will retain his duties as dish chief operating officer.
