Dish Satellite now under 5 Million subscribers/Sling under 2 Million.

[Bruce]

With the 1st Quarter Report just released, Dish lost another 180,000, now at 4.84 Million.

Sling now at 1.79 million subscribers, down approximately 190,000.

For comparison, YouTube TV now has about double the subscribers of Dish and Sling combined.

DISH & Sling TV Lost Over 366,000 TV Subscribers In Just 3 Months & | Cord Cutters News

EchoStar Corporation, the owner of the DISH Network satellite television service and the Sling TV streaming platform, continued to experience steep declines in its pay-television customer base during the first three months of 2026. The company reported a net loss of approximately 366,000 pay-TV...

cordcuttersnews.com

 

[pmjones]

With the 1st Quarter Report just released, Dish lost another 180,000, now at 4.84 Million.

Sling now at 1.79 million subscribers, down approximately 190,000.

For comparison, YouTube TV now has about double the subscribers of Dish and Sling combined.

DISH & Sling TV Lost Over 366,000 TV Subscribers In Just 3 Months & | Cord Cutters News

EchoStar Corporation, the owner of the DISH Network satellite television service and the Sling TV streaming platform, continued to experience steep declines in its pay-television customer base during the first three months of 2026. The company reported a net loss of approximately 366,000 pay-TV...

cordcuttersnews.com

I wonder what the breaking point is where Dish is no longer considered viable. I'm thinking about things like keeping the technology going, etc. I know its been talked about here that Dish would morph into something else but I for one will be sad to say goodbye to the Hopper.

 

[navychop]

When I saw the title, I just KNEW who posted it.

 

[telstar_1]

But wait, sling is streaming, and they're losing that as well?? Couldn't happen to a nicer guy

 

[dishdude]

But wait, sling is streaming, and they're losing that as well?? Couldn't happen to a nicer guy

That's the surprising part! Sling pricing and packages seem pretty competitive too.

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[MikeD-C05]

That's the surprising part! Sling pricing and packages seem pretty competitive too.

Their interface and guide are not the best with Sling. I have suggested for a while they need to morph it into DISH interface and guide. Sling guide is a mess of channels with no rhyme or reason with their free view channels all interspersed with the cable channels. Combine the best of DISH guide and interface with Sling pricing and you might make it more attractive to those who like You Tube interface. Sling used to also install antennas and sell the Air Tv Anywhere 4 tuner device for those who wanted their locals for free and you could record all 4 channels at the same time and it plugged the channels in to the Sling TV interface. I don't see them empathizing that these days. It is like they are just on auto pilot waiting till they sell it off or go under.

 

[Bruce]

That's the surprising part! Sling pricing and packages seem pretty competitive too.

DirecTV's new mini packages are less expensive and offer more.

For example, my entertainment, which Navychop has, comes with all the main cable channels, including the News Channels, HBO, Disney+ and Hulu, is only $34.99 a month.

Sling does not even come close to the pricing DirecTV has currently.

 

[HipKat]

They're going to lose a crapton more now that Starlink is so available and affordable.

 

[nelson61]

On a steady glide path

 

[nelson61]

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[telstar_1]

Why did they stall out at 14m?

I have tried sling freeview and it's difficult

 

[fmj77]

I'm surprised Dish still has that many subscribers. I don't know a single person in my area that is still with them after getting either Starlink or fiber at their home. They all cancelled Dish and went with streaming. I used to get offers pretty regularly in the mail to come back to Dish, but no more. Haven't seen one in a couple of years now.

 

[navychop]

Some of us still have DVR'd material to watch.

 

[dishdude]

Why did they stall out at 14m?

The first nail in the coffin was the triple play packages the cable companies started offering around 2005, I could see internet was becoming more important to people and it was tough to compete with the offers they were putting out for TV + internet + phone.

People were moving on from DSL, cable internet was much faster and the cable companies would really sock you if you only wanted internet. Most people still had landlines, so even that sweetened the deal.

 

[EENAU]

I've had DISH for close to 30 years, but I tried YouTubeTV for about 6 months while keeping the most basic DISH package. My ultimate call was that the Hopper3 was such a better user experience that the higher cost wasn't enough different to justify dropping DISH. I became a ham radio operator in the 1950's and while still licensed, I no longer go on the air, but my love of antennas led me to a BUD in the 80's and to DISH in the 90's. I'm now 84 years old, so maybe DISH can hang on a little longer and we can phase out together. Your mileage may vary.

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[Bruce]

I'm surprised Dish still has that many subscribers. I don't know a single person in my area that is still with them after getting either Starlink or fiber at their home. They all cancelled Dish and went with streaming. I used to get offers pretty regularly in the mail to come back to Dish, but no more. Haven't seen one in a couple of years now.

Only about 3.6% of Households in the United States, still have Dish Network.

For comparison, YouTube TV has about 10%.

 

[telstar_1]

I say it also had to do with poor customer service. They didn't support local service presence and threw a lot of their goodwill, some entirely unearned the way they treated dealers who were frontline to their cx's, out the window. Then tried to play catch-up, patch-up by building an in-house servicing fleet. They lost share to DTV that more local servicing emphasis would have retained., and then ultimately lost overall altitude faster than otherwise would have.

 

[nelson61]

Fiber . As the providers originated and expand theired network areas, youtube gained and the cable and satellite providers took the hit.

Starlink is new enough to not show up in the statistics but will surely enable the youtubes to eat more of the market.

 

[dishdude]

Fiber . As the providers originated and expand theired network areas, youtube gained and the cable and satellite providers took the hit.

Starlink is new enough to not show up in the statistics but will surely enable the youtubes to eat more of the market.

That's several nails in.

 

[ekilgus]

I bet they'll still raise our rates.

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