Dish Network 1st Quarter 2023 Earning Call

[pmjones]

Anything about the Cox dispute? Still wanting my local CBS back.

 

[fmj77]

Dish Network's days are numbered. There is no way they can stay in business if they continue to bleed subscribers at the current rate.

 

[mwdxer1]

DISH probably suffered a lot of profit loss over the hacking and the damage done to them while it was going on. I look for lower profits.

I read recently that in the past 8 years, satellite & cable have lost over 40 million subs. It was about 100 million back in 2015. Now 61 million. What will it be in another 5-10 years? People in general are either streaming or OTA. The cost is getting way too much for the carriers. It is not the carriers fault, but the programmers want too much. With Dish add on the hacking, loss of channels, and other things. The numbers probably will not be great.

 

[mwdxer1]

Anything about the Cox dispute? Still wanting my local CBS back.

Not that I have heard. It has been months too.

 

[mwdxer1]

Doubtful, while they could not process new sales during March, they also could not process cancellations either, and those canceling have been more then those adding service for awhile now, for all Traditional (Cable/Satellite) Providers.

But Dish’s loss is still less then Comcast and probably DirecTV, which is estimated to be 750,000 with the loss of ST.

As far as the cost of the hack itself, as far as we know, they could of had a form of insurance that covered it, or not, those questions will hopefully answered today.

Probably the reason, Dish's prices are not as expensive as some other carriers.

 

[mwdxer1]

At the rate of cable /satellite losses we might be at the non profitable stage, sooner rather than later. I thought we had till the end of the decade, but I think it will happen in the next 5 years now. Especially since funding for more broadband is in the Infrastructure Act they passed last part of 2021. The more people with broadband the more will try streaming as a a cheaper model. Especially since neither Satellite or Cable has learned that people don't like extra fees like additional receiver fees and DVR fees on their bills, when the programming continues to go up every year. That is simply not sustainable over the long haul.

Unless Direct & Dish merge. Combined they may hold on a bit longer. In the future it will be all streaming.

 

[rvvaquero]

Dish Network's days are numbered. There is no way they can stay in business if they continue to bleed subscribers at the current rate.

If people keep saying this, some day people will be right.

Incidentally, everybody's and everything's days are numbered.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Unless Direct & Dish merge. Combined they may hold on a bit longer. In the future it will be all streaming.

I've said it before if they merge it is like re-arranging the chairs on the Titanic because that iceberg is still out there. With the Broadband money in the Infrastructure Act ( which provides money for up to a decade) you can expect to see more and more rural areas getting access to it. This will cut the need for satellite in the country. Right now the rural areas without broadband is keeping them afloat ,but ever year we move forward is another nail in DISH & Directv's coffins. If DISH would do a streaming version of their satellite service without the extra fees they might and I stress might, survive. Sling TV is simply not as good for the cable like experience. The guide is clunky and they have a lot of clutter on them. Maybe once DISH is no longer profitable they can combine the two services and come out with something that looks more like You Tube tv , but with more packs you can combine and or take out for like Sports which are higher in price anyway.

 

[navychop]

Lather.
Rinse.
Repeat.

 

[ekilgus]

Unless Direct & Dish merge. Combined they may hold on a bit longer. In the future it will be all streaming.

You can bet that streaming will get significantly more expensive over the coming months and years. As the revenue from cable and satellite diminishes through subscriber loss the programmers/content providers will look to streaming to make up for their lost revenue. Eventually their price demands will become untenable resulting in subscriber losses and they'll no longer be able to meet their financial obligations, something we've already seen with some RSN's. But that's in the future and they only think of "now".

 

[ekilgus]

Random thought. Is it possible for Dish to consider producing its own exclusive content? Either by itself or more likely in partnership with another entity. After all, many others produce their own exclusive content in one form or another. Would it be cost prohibitive? I can think of numerous benefits from such an endeavor.

 

[navychop]

They could start with a cheap Q&A show with the CEO. They could call it “Charlie Chat.”

OH! Wait…

 

[Bruce]

Random thought. Is it possible for Dish to consider producing its own exclusive content? Either by itself or more likely in partnership with another entity. After all, many others produce their own exclusive content in one form or another. Would it be cost prohibitive? I can think of numerous benefits from such an endeavor.

Cost a lot of money to make programming, especially the type people want to watch.

Example, Yellowstone:1923 is a reported $25-30 million a episode.

Harrison Ford is not cheap to get for the series, he received $50 Million for Star Wars 7.

 

[Bruce]

You can bet that streaming will get significantly more expensive over the coming months and years.

Streaming will get more expensive, no doubt, every year.

But so will Cable/Satellite.

The advantages for streaming right now is you do not have to get everything, for example, no desire to watch Discovery programming, so I will not sub to Discovery+.

Also, the ability to sub to Paramount+ one month, then drop it, try Peacock, then rinse and repeat with the others.

But that cannot continue, fiscally, that is a mess for streaming services, so they will have to solve it, one way is major discounts if you prepay for the year.

AMC+ did that with me, year for $30, it is up in August , even if they offer me the same deal, still going to drop it, service really sucks.

 

[Jim5506]

One advantage that satellite has is that they can cover the entire nation with a limited number of transmission points (points of failure), whereas cable and ethernet rely on infrastructure on the ground that is subject to accidental and/or deliberate interruption that may last a day or more.

 

[MikeD-C05]

They could start with a cheap Q&A show with the CEO. They could call it “Charlie Chat.”

OH! Wait…

That would be a ratings winner & I am sure of it. Scintillating ramblings by Charlie Ergen and Jim DeFranco awkwardly chuckling like Ed McMahon looking embarrassed.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I saw the other day that CBS Viacom channels that litter your cable or satellite guide like Logo, MTV, CMT and other channels are having all their individual channel management eliminated and will use only one staff for all the extra channels no one is watching anymore. I think we will start seeing channels going off the air with more time. People are not watching cable channels , not like in the 90s when having 500 channels was a seller. It's 500 channels with very little except Network re-runs and infomercials with some reality TV sprinkled on top. Who wants to watch that?

 

[Bruce]

I saw the other day that CBS Viacom channels that litter your cable or satellite guide like Logo, MTV, CMT and other channels are having all their individual channel management eliminated and will use only one staff for all the extra channels no one is watching anymore.

Yep-

Paramount Cuts 25 Percent of Staff From TV Networks, MTV News Shutting Down

Chris McCarthy's unit is in the midst of combining teams as part of a reorganization merging Showtime with Paramount+.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Main reason they are focusing on Cable Channels for layoffs is the loss of per sub fees and Advertising on Traditional Cable Channels is really down, a lot of ads have moved over to things like Pluto because it is cheap to run them there, which is ironic since Paramount owns it.

Paramount+ is actually a success story, 60 Million Subscribers already, would actually be profitable except they have all these on the books cost like merging with and then eliminating Showtime as a separate service, getting rid and shutting down certain productions, etc, etc, not so much real money, but the type of losses that saves with taxes.