Dish Chairman Ergen to Add CEO Title

Dish Network Corp. said Chief Executive Joe Clayton will retire at the end of March and will be succeeded by Chairman Charlie Ergen, who will take the helm as the satellite-TV company is pushing to diversify into new lines of business.

Mr. Ergen, the company’s mercurial, 61-year-old founder, stepped away from the CEO role nearly four years ago. As chairman he helped game out Dish’s major strategic moves, including investments to enter the wireless business and a recent plunge into streaming TV.

Now, as he assumes day-to-day control once again, Mr. Ergen faces the challenge of capitalizing on those bold bets by finding revenue growth that can counterbalance stagnation in Dish’s core pay-TV business. Dish lost subscribers overall in the first three quarters of 2014 and analysts expect more losses in the fourth quarter when the company reports results Monday.

By some measures, the U.S. wireless industry is already mature: The number of U.S. wireless subscriber connections, including cellphones and tablets, amounts to more than the entire U.S. population, according to CTIA, the wireless industry trade association.

But in an interview, Mr. Ergen said he views the industry as “relatively in its infancy” and sees a world of wireless-enabled devices beyond tablets and smartphones, from refrigerators to cars to smartwatches ? that will “lead to tremendous growth.”
 
http://variety.com/2015/biz/news/dish-founder-charlie-ergen-stepping-back-in-as-ceo-1201439522/

Dish announced Monday that Clayton, who has been its chief exec since June 2011, will retire from his position effective March 31, 2015, and will also depart Dish’s board.

“Over the last four years, Joe’s leadership has been instrumental to Dish as we have worked to engineer a fundamental transformation of our business,” Ergen said in a statement. “He has set the stage for what will become a new company, and with that he has prepared a new class of management to address the adventures coming our way.”

Also Monday, Dish announced financial results for the fourth quarter of 2014. For the full-year 2014, the satcaster reported total revenue of $14.6 billion, up 5.3% from the year earlier, while net income rose 17% to $945 million.

In Q4 2014, Dish lost a 63,000 net video subscribers to end the year with 13.978 million U.S. TV subs. Its total subscriber base dropped by 79,000 for the full year. In the fourth quarter, Dish’s contract fight with Turner Broadcasting resulted in subs losing CNN and seven other networks for about a month.

Following Clayton’s departure, Ergen’s direct reports will include: executive VP and COO Bernie Han; EVP and general counsel Stanton Dodge; EVP and chief HR office Mike McClaskey; EVP/head of corporate development Tom Cullen; and Roger Lynch, CEO of Dish’s recently formed Sling TV over-the-top division.
 
DISH Network President and CEO Joseph P. Clayton to Retire March 31, 2015
Release Date:
Monday, February 23, 2015 4:05 am MST

DISH Founder and Chairman Charles W. Ergen to assume role as President and Chief Executive Officer
  • Clayton also to retire from DISH Board of Directors
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) today announced that President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph P. Clayton will retire from his position effective March 31, 2015. Clayton, who is a 42-year veteran of the consumer electronics industry, leaves the post he assumed in June of 2011. Clayton’s retirement from the DISH Board of Directors also will be effective March 31.

DISH Co-founder and Chairman Charles W. Ergen, who has previously served as DISH’s President and CEO, will succeed Clayton in those roles.

“Over the last four years, Joe’s leadership has been instrumental to DISH as we have worked to engineer a fundamental transformation of our business,” said Ergen. “He has set the stage for what will become a new company, and with that he has prepared a new class of management to address the adventures coming our way.”

“This team has done what it said it would – our operations are stronger, our leadership is deeper, our outlook is as positive as it ever has been,” said Clayton. “We were able to launch the Hopper, dishNet and Sling TV, navigate two spectrum auctions and deliver for our customers throughout. All of it was with great success – I am proud to have served with such a remarkable team.”

Ergen’s direct reports will include EVP/COO Bernie Han, EVP/General Counsel Stanton Dodge, EVP/CHRO Mike McClaskey, EVP/Head of Corporate Development Tom Cullen and Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch.
 
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dish-ergen-add-ceo-title-777005

Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen to Add CEO Title, Company Posts Subscriber Loss for 2014

Dish said Monday it ended 2014 with 13.978 million pay TV subscribers, down 79,000 from the end of 2013. In the fourth quarter, it lost 63,000 video subscribers. In the year-ago quarter, the company had added 8,000 net subscribers to end 2013 with 14.057 million customers.
 
Not good . DISH keeps losing more subs than it gains , but strangely the profits and sales keep going up on the backs of the remaining subs. It is way past time for DISH to shake up the programming packs and make more ala cart options for their subs. Instead of three main packs, how about doing smaller packs and charging less for each? How about lowering or eliminating some of the charge it, because we can, DISH fees? IN the end, the company is heading for stagnation if it keeps losing more subs than it gains. Great equipment with cutting edge features isn't going to save you ,if no one can afford to sub to your service. DISH is supposed to be the low priced leader in the industry and now it seems to be the lesser of the two evils, when it comes to the two sat services. Time for a change and a shake up in the satellite industry, if DISH is going to survive long term, and I don't mean Sling tv. Forced bundling will be the death of pay tv.
 
Not good . DISH keeps losing more subs than it gains , but strangely the profits and sales keep going up on the backs of the remaining subs. It is way past time for DISH to shake up the programming packs and make more ala cart options for their subs. Instead of three main packs, how about doing smaller packs and charging less for each? How about lowering or eliminating some of the charge it, because we can, DISH fees? IN the end, the company is heading for stagnation if it keeps losing more subs than it gains. Great equipment with cutting edge features isn't going to save you ,if no one can afford to sub to your service. DISH is supposed to be the low priced leader in the industry and now it seems to be the lesser of the two evils, when it comes to the two sat services. Time for a change and a shake up in the satellite industry, if DISH is going to survive long term, and I don't mean Sling tv. Forced bundling will be the death of pay tv.
 
It's to much money it's now the same as cable
satellites 10 years ago was leaps ahead in technology and the price was fair. But now it's changed alot.
I love satellite but soon I will be looking at a high end antenna and smart tv . Satellite is gonna lose in the long run and they really don't have to but greed gets in the way I don't know.
 
The loss of subscribers is amazingly low considering of the loss of Fox News during that period. I would have expected it to be much more.

Scott- Reuters reported this morning that the loss of subscribers during the fourth quarter was double what they expected due to the extended contract negotiations. So, it appears that even Dish was surprised their decision had such an impact.

I think the decision to rent your equipment from Dish makes it much easier for a subscriber to simply churn. The subscriber has no skin in the game. Easy for him to jump to the other side.
 
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Scott- Reuters reported this morning that the loss of subscribers during the fourth quarter was double what they expected due to the extended contract negotiations. So, it appears that even Dish was surprised their decision had such an impact.

I think the decision to rent your equipment from Dish makes it much easier for a subscriber to simply churn. The subscriber has no skin in the game. Easy for him to jump to the other side.

I kind of have a feeling that consistent retrans fights are having a big impact. Dish is known for having spats and the consumers are really not gaining anything from it. Yes the competitor may be a few bucks more expensive but the customer gets the channels they want without having to worry about them dropping and probably in a better package too. So in the end while a few may see the benefit, it ends up hurting dish more than it helps. A nice guy finish's last kind of thing. You can have all the best technology in the world but if you don't have the programming and content to back it up, then what's the point.

I would rather pay 104.99 for a package that has full time HD RSN's and all the channels I get in HD without worrying about blackouts or channel drops, versus paying 101.99 for the same package and NOT having full time HD RSN's and the threat of having channels dropped during negotiations. With that said no provider is immune to spats, but Dish seems to pick these sort of fights all the time. Way more than Comcast, Cox, Directv, TWC, ATT, and any other provider.
 
Scott- Reuters reported this morning that the loss of subscribers during the fourth quarter was double what they expected due to the extended contract negotiations. So, it appears that even Dish was surprised their decision had such an impact.
Not exactly, the loss was double the estimate made by market research firm StreetAccount.
 
Scott- Reuters reported this morning that the loss of subscribers during the fourth quarter was double what they expected due to the extended contract negotiations. So, it appears that even Dish was surprised their decision had such an impact.

I think the decision to rent your equipment from Dish makes it much easier for a subscriber to simply churn. The subscriber has no skin in the game. Easy for him to jump to the other side.

That was not a DISH estimate, they may or may not have known that would be the result.

Edit - I see Kab's post now....
 
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Not exactly, the loss was double the estimate made by market research firm StreetAccount.

IOW, an outside 'guessing' firm! :)

From all the hyperbole surrounding the loss of Fox News and how many would switch, these numbers are much lower than I would have thought had any of that hyperbole been anywhere near true.

On the 'other' side, they gained net subs, but at the cost of being very aggressive with those that were going to cancel. When I cancelled D*, before the box showed up for gear I had a 'come back' offer that was all the new sub stuff plus a flat $200 gift card offer, and in the box when it did show up, another just like it. Since then I get the same offer every week in email.
 
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Along with what Scott posted, if you look at the Cable industry sub losses, this is not terrible if fact they gained net subs. This year will help see what the trend is.
 
Getting ready for EchoStar 18 by moving 10 percent of customer market to new boxes and phasing out QPSK..

"For several years we have been selectively migrating customers with QPSK receivers to 8PSK receivers concurrent with scheduled in-home service visits or through receiver exchanges. We recently expanded that effort to our remaining customers that have QPSK receivers. We also began migrating customers in approximately ten percent of our local markets from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 receivers. We are implementing this receiver migration to conform to the capabilities of our EchoStar XVIII satellite, scheduled for launch during the fourth quarter 2015. The estimated incremental subscriber related expense for these receiver migration efforts during the next two years is not expected to exceed $100 million. Both the schedule and the incremental costs of these receiver migrations could change due to many factors, including, among other things, satellite health and capacity."
 
100 million to change out the receivers and how much do they have invested in all that wireless bandwith they aren't using ? Multiple BILLIONS of dollars? I think they should of done this change over years ago and got ahead of the change and invested in the actual satellite company. It seems like they have been doing this upgrade for ever. Western arc should of already been changed out to full mpeg 4 already. Eastern arc is full mpeg 4 and has been since 08 when it debuted. Here we are seven years later and they still are in transition?
 
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