Dish Earnings Fall As It Loses 273,000 Pay TV Subs

A Dish technician standing outside a company van.

(Image credit: Dish)

Dish Network said that its fourth quarter earnings fell as it lost pay-TV subscribers.

Net income dropped to $552 million, or 87 cents a share, from $733 million, or $1.24 a share, a year ago.

Revenue fell 2% to $4.45 billion.

Dish said it lost 273,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter. A year ago it lost about 133,000 subscribers.

The company closed the quarter with 10.71 million pay-TV subscribers, down from 10.98 million in the third quarter. It had 8.22 million Dish TV subscribers, down from 8.42 million, and 2.49 million Sling TV subscribers, down from 2.57 million.

A year ago, Dish had 11.29 million pay-TV subscribers. It had 8.69 million Dish TV subscribers and 2.47 million Sling subs. ■

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.