Dish Network Loses 230,000 Subscribers in First Quarter

By Jon Lafayette
( Broadcasting & Cable )
last updated

Net income, revenue increase

Dish
(Image credit: Dish)

Dish Network’s first-quarter net income and revenue rose despite the loss of about 230,000 pay-TV subscribers.

Dish said the drop in subscribers was smaller than the 413,000 that departed a year ago. The company now has 11.06 million pay-TV subscribers, between satellite TV and OTT.

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Dish TV fell by 130,000 to 8.69 million subscribers in the first quarter from 8.82 million at the end of the year. Sling TV also lost 100,000 subscribers in the period, ending the quarter with 2.37 million subscribers.

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A year ago, the company had 11.32 million pay TV customers, with 9.01 million subscribing to Dish TV and 2.31 million on OTT outlet Sling TV.

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First quarter net income was $630 million, or 99 cents a share, compared to $73 million, or 13 cents a year a year ago.

Revenue rose to $4.50 billion from $3.22 billion.

Dish also said retail wireless net subscribers dropped by 151,000 to 8.89 million.

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.