DISH Network Reports Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results

[TheKrell]

That dish you see in the picture is an FTA looking dish like it's an wave frontier dish satellite for Free-To-Air.

Very probably true. It's called a toroidal antenna. But you most certainly could mount some appropriate LNBs on the rack and pull in commercial TV as well.

 

[nelson61]

I was browsing the SEC Edgar file on the Dish 2nd Quarter 10Q and stumbled onto this little gem.
Did a search of the document for any other references and there were none.

"On July 30, 2018, we did not provide notice to renew our lease for the capacity of Ciel II. Accordingly, our lease for the capacity of Ciel II will expire in January 2019 at the conclusion of the initial term. There can be no assurance that the expiration of our lease for capacity of Ciel II will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition or otherwise disrupt our business."

The 3rd quarter report repeated the cautionary note.

The 129W license expires January 29 so one would expect to see a renewal filing any day now since the earth station regulations specify a 90-30 day application notice before renewal.
If they go to a short term Ciel2 lease, they would likely be looking at doing a deal with Directv for space at 110W and 119W.
A quick look counting up empty transponders and considering their new E18 100+ spot beam satellite sitting in storage indicates that they could probably eliminate the need for 129W.

Interestingly; Directv has emptied out their 110W West (KU) transponders and have the channels on 119W (KU) in test mode on one of their KA satellites.

If Directv subleases their 110W and 119W transponders to Dish, they would eliminate the need for building two new satellites - probably approaching 1 billion dollars in reduced capital expenditures plus lease income.
And, they have sufficient excess capacity on their KA satellites to make the move permanent.

 

[ncted]

The 3rd quarter report repeated the cautionary note.

The 129W license expires January 29 so one would expect to see a renewal filing any day now since the earth station regulations specify a 90-30 day application notice before renewal.
If they go to a short term Ciel2 lease, they would likely be looking at doing a deal with Directv for space at 110W and 119W.
A quick look counting up empty transponders and considering their new E18 100+ spot beam satellite sitting in storage indicates that they could probably eliminate the need for 129W.

Interestingly; Directv has emptied out their 110W West (KU) transponders and have the channels on 119W (KU) in test mode on one of their KA satellites.

If Directv subleases their 110W and 119W transponders to Dish, they would eliminate the need for building two new satellites - probably approaching 1 billion dollars in reduced capital expenditures plus lease income.
And, they have sufficient excess capacity on their KA satellites to make the move permanent.

Sorry, I am not that familiar with the topic, so I was wondering if that took the addition of any UHD channels into account for both Dish and Directv?

 

[pattykay]

Sorry, I am not that familiar with the topic, so I was wondering if that took the addition of any UHD channels into account for both Dish and Directv?

Maybe any future UHD channels will be streamed, not satellite-delivered. That would certainly eliminate the need for more satellite bandwidth.

 

[Bruce]

Sorry, I am not that familiar with the topic, so I was wondering if that took the addition of any UHD channels into account for both Dish and Directv?

There is not even a rumor of any broadcaster ( say FX or even CBS for example ) about to offer a 4K version of their channels, why even consider it then?

 

[ncted]

There is not even a rumor of any broadcaster ( say FX or even CBS for example ) about to offer a 4K version of their channels, why even consider it then?

Well, Dish and DirecTV did go to the trouble of designing technology which would allow for the delivery of UHD channels, so it stands to reason they might actually do so. That said, I'd rather see 1080p HDR channels.

 

[nelson61]

Apparently Dish has resolved their issues with SES and extended their lease for Ciel 2 at 129W (2nd and 3rd quarter reports said they had not renewed or extended).

They filed with the FCC for renewal of license to transmit to customer dishes on Dec 21.

Notify going to License

The lease period should show up in their satellite report table in the next quarterly report.

 

[zippyfrog]

Apparently Dish has resolved their issues with SES and extended their lease for Ciel 2 at 129W (2nd and 3rd quarter reports said they had not renewed or extended).
They filed with the FCC for renewal of license to transmit to customer dishes on Dec 21.
Notify going to License
The lease period should show up in their satellite report table in the next quarterly report.

So that means that they will not abandon 129? Or will the quarterly report tell us if it is short term or a long term extension?

 

[bluegras]

Well, Dish and DirecTV did go to the trouble of designing technology which would allow for the delivery of UHD channels, so it stands to reason they might actually do so. That said, I'd rather see 1080p HDR channels.

Totally agree with you dish needs to work of adding uhd channels

 

[Bobby]

Totally agree with you dish needs to work of adding uhd channels

What the heck, they should work on adding 8K channels!

 

[navychop]

Of grass growing!


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[nelson61]

So that means that they will not abandon 129? Or will the quarterly report tell us if it is short term or a long term extension?

It is 10 years old so it has maybe 5-10 years remaining life.

It has been common on their other satellite leases for them to renew 1 year at a time after the expiration of the initial lease term. They were probably haggling over the $$$$ since satellite tv is on the decline and they need to manage forward looking expenses accordingly.

Their past practice has been to report the "number of lease years" in the quarterly reports and if they have option to renew at the end of each period .

It takes 3 years or so to build a new satellite.

 

[zippyfrog]

It is 10 years old so it has maybe 5-10 years remaining life.

It has been common on their other satellite leases for them to renew 1 year at a time after the expiration of the initial lease term. They were probably haggling over the $$$$ since satellite tv is on the decline and they need to manage forward looking expenses accordingly.

Their past practice has been to report the "number of lease years" in the quarterly reports and if they have option to renew at the end of each period.

Does this pretty much rule out Dish from asking AT&T for the transponders they deserted at 110?

 

[pattykay]

Does this pretty much rule out Dish from asking AT&T for the transponders they deserted at 110?

I don't think anything has been ruled out yet. As nelson61 pointed out earlier, Dish had to give advance notice that they were seeking a lease at 129 in order to get their license renewed:

The 129W license expires January 29 so one would expect to see a renewal filing any day now since the earth station regulations specify a 90-30 day application notice before renewal.

The question is: does Dish have to actually have the lease in place before applying for the license? If not, then it is still possible that no lease deal has actually been reached yet, and all options are still on the table.

 

[Bruce]

Name one UHD channel they could add.

Totally agree with you dish needs to work of adding uhd channels

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[Riverpilot]

Name one UHD channel they could add.


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NASA TV.... which I would LOVE to have in 4k. I think it's really cool channel to watch. Heck, if Dish would add NASA in HD, would be a lot better than SD.

 

[Jim5506]

We need 16K - more is always better.

 

[ChadT41]

We need 16K - more is always better.

64K. 45" screens...