Dish Network desperate to raise money to meet 5G deadline, source says

[Bruce]

Highlights-

One source who spoke on the condition of anonymity told On The Money that Dish’s billionaire boss Charlie Ergen is desperate to sell some of the company’s assets.

“He is trying to sell everything that is non-core and to finance assets that are financeable,” one source close to the situation told On The Money. “The problem is there are only very small things to sell. It’s a drop in the bucket.”

While Ergen had previously explored a number of partnership options, none of those appear to be moving forward.

The merger Dish explored with fellow satellite provider DirecTV has stalled, sources add.

talks with Amazon about providing Prime customers with spectrum appear to be going nowhere, sources said.

Dish Network desperate to raise money to meet 5G deadline, source says

While Dish’s billionaire boss Charlie Ergen had previously explored a number of partnership options, none of those appear to be moving forward.

nypost.com

 

[Radioguy41]

If I were looking for a reliable news source the NY Post wouldn't be on the list. Fundamentally, if Dish were so desperate to raise money how would merging with DTV feed that need? Merging would involve outlay, not income or additional disposable monies to fund that expenditure, it makes no sense. All we've seen are unsubstantiated rumors reported by unreliable and/or questionable sources. I'll wait for cold hard facts to become available.

 

[Bruce]

If I were looking for a reliable news source the NY Post wouldn't be on the list.

The On the Money part of the Post is considered very reputable .

Fundamentally, if Dish were so desperate to raise money how would merging with DTV feed that need? Merging would involve outlay, not income or additional disposable monies to fund that expenditure, it makes no sense.

I agree, usually when a merger of this type happens, then there would be loans, lines of credit or even a new IPO to help fund it afterwards, but with the bond market pretty much frozen and there is no way banks are going to loan money to fund a merging of two Satellite TV Providers, that will still continue to lose customers.

If Charlie cannot get the money for one, no one will loan money for two.

All we've seen are unsubstantiated rumors reported by unreliable and/or questionable sources. I'll wait for cold hard facts to become available.

It was actually TPG Capital ( owners of 30% of DirecTV) that leaked the merger talks last year.

I wonder if they are worried about taking a loss on their investment, especially since DirecTV is expected to lose 3 Million Subscribers this year ( 2 million normally and the additional 1 million because of the Sunday Ticket loss).

 

[dtgoodtonid]

Ok, Bruce. My questions to you are, what do you want us to do with your never ending stream of negative information about Dish and Charlie Ergen? If everyone that reads your posts says Bruce, you're right, I am leaving Dish today, would that feed your endless hunger to drag Dish to the bottom?

I think you should leave Dish, if you are even a customer. Raise your flag and guide us to the destination you are wanting us to go to. Otherwise, quit.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The big issue here is the costs have more then doubled from what they planned on spending on it due to COVID / Supply Chain issues. In fact I have heard some of the equipment they need has gone up as much as 5 times.

How does anyone plan for that?

I have talked with Charlie and understand his vision for the network, and believe if he can finish it, it will be the best all 5G network.

But with that said in playing with 5G, it is not the earth shattering technology it was billed to be. In fact a lot of times I find that LTE performs better than 5G. And from the times I have played with DISH WIreless, it has sucked as the network is setup in a default state and not optimized in any way. But the only reason it is online and for sale is to satisfy the government of having a signal online.

They are still building new like crazy, and it has to again as they have to meet the government deadlines.

 

[HipKat]

The big issue here is the costs have more then doubled from what they planned on spending on it due to COVID / Supply Chain issues. In fact I have heard some of the equipment they need has gone up as much as 5 times.

How does anyone plan for that?

I have talked with Charlie and understand his vision for the network, and believe if he can finish it, it will be the best all 5G network.

But with that said in playing with 5G, it is not the earth shattering technology it was billed to be. In fact a lot of times I find that LTE performs better than 5G. And from the times I have played with DISH WIreless, it has sucked as the network is setup in a default state and not optimized in any way. But the only reason it is online and for sale is to satisfy the government of having a signal online.

They are still building new like crazy, and it has to again as they have to meet the government deadlines.

Ironically, on T-Mob, I keep my phone set to 4G/LTE and avoid 5G because I don't need 100's of Gigs/second on a phone and 5G in a weak area is like dial up

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ironically, on T-Mob, I keep my phone set to 4G/LTE and avoid 5G because I don't need 100's of Gigs/second on a phone and 5G in a weak area is like dial up

Yeah I see the same thing here. And in most places I am at only get 2 bars of 5G/5G UC. In these cases LTE is much more stable.

 

[Eku]

5G is a pain for ALL of the carriers, and I think it will be much easier for DISH to look for an extension on their 75% marker after this summer. The biggest problem is getting money is a million times harder now than it was 3 years ago and the equipment costs for what is needed has gone up significantly. 5G ORAN is where everyone is going to end up, DISH just doesn't have to worry about supporting the old system costwise so that is where its better.

5G is everything and more that it was billed to be, problem is slow adoption in the private network sales area like they thought it would be. There was just a massive deal done in North Dakota and none of the major networks even won it, so part of the problem is there are to many players in that space with not enough equipment and proven final products.

Dish has been able to showcase at several events (Superbowl and several PGA events) that they could do popup networks to support communications in that arena quite well.

As far as the Sat business, honestly its to keep cash flowing for them to fund everything else (or borrow to fund). A possible DTV merger could help because of the customer base doubling, but there would be an insane amount of headache that I don't think Charlie would want to take on at this point. Partnership with Amazon is still the most likely road IMO.

 

[HipKat]

5G is a pain for ALL of the carriers, and I think it will be much easier for DISH to look for an extension on their 75% marker after this summer. The biggest problem is getting money is a million times harder now than it was 3 years ago and the equipment costs for what is needed has gone up significantly. 5G ORAN is where everyone is going to end up, DISH just doesn't have to worry about supporting the old system costwise so that is where its better.

5G is everything and more that it was billed to be, problem is slow adoption in the private network sales area like they thought it would be. There was just a massive deal done in North Dakota and none of the major networks even won it, so part of the problem is there are to many players in that space with not enough equipment and proven final products.

Dish has been able to showcase at several events (Superbowl and several PGA events) that they could do popup networks to support communications in that arena quite well.

As far as the Sat business, honestly its to keep cash flowing for them to fund everything else (or borrow to fund). A possible DTV merger could help because of the customer base doubling, but there would be an insane amount of headache that I don't think Charlie would want to take on at this point. Partnership with Amazon is still the most likely road IMO.

That and expanding the partnership with Google

 

[charlesrshell]

That and expanding the partnership with Google

I hope a new Hopper 4 is in the mix!

 

[dweber]

Ok, Bruce. My questions to you are, what do you want us to do with your never ending stream of negative information about Dish and Charlie Ergen? If everyone that reads your posts says Bruce, you're right, I am leaving Dish today, would that feed your endless hunger to drag Dish to the bottom?

I think you should leave Dish, if you are even a customer. Raise your flag and guide us to the destination you are wanting us to go to. Otherwise, quit.

I enjoy Bruce’s posts since they are informative. He seems to have insight on what is happening. I don’t believe that his posts are causing people to leave Dish. People are leaving all pay subscriptions such as cable and satellite and they are changing to streaming content. I just renewed another 2 year contract with Dish.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dishrich]

As Dish Reportedly Grows 'Desperate' to Raise Cash to Build Its 5G Network, the 'B Word' Increasingly Gets Thrown Around

New report suggests Charlie Ergen has little furniture left to burn to stave off the coming winter

www.nexttv.com

 

[Bruce]

As Dish Reportedly Grows 'Desperate' to Raise Cash to Build Its 5G Network, the 'B Word' Increasingly Gets Thrown Around

New report suggests Charlie Ergen has little furniture left to burn to stave off the coming winter

www.nexttv.com

I had to put my ipad into reader mode to view that.

A little new info, mostly based on what others have written-

Capital markets suck. As equity analyst Craig Moffett noted in an April 13 shareholder letter, "Whatever business plans Dish had hatched for wireless when borrowing costs were 6% or so must already have been scrapped."

The ATM, meanwhile, is buggy. Dish linear satellite subscribers are now fleeing at an all-time high rate of 11.2%, as of the end of Q1. With fewer customers, Dish's core business is throwing off less cash.

In his shareholder letter, Moffett raised the possibility of a Dish bankruptcy, and the Post also confirmed that insiders are indeed worried about that.

 

[nelson61]

Their problem is the increase in interest rates when they roll over their debt.
They are good until next year when 1 billion needs to roll over or be covered by capital contributions from investors.

 

[Bruce]

I enjoy Bruce’s posts since they are informative.

Thank You.

He seems to have insight on what is happening.

I wish I could post everything I know, I have learned so much since returning to work ( for the second time this year) after being retired for 4 years, but cannot reveal because I have a NDA.

But I like knowing all the secrets.

 

[charlesrshell]

Thank You.

I wish I could post everything I know, I have learned so much since returning to work ( for the second time this year) after being retired for 4 years, but cannot reveal because I have a NDA.

But I like knowing all the secrets.

Any hint of a Hopper 4!! Just kidding. I like all your post too.

 

[Bruce]

Any hint of a Hopper 4!! Just kidding. I like all your post too.

I definitely do not work for Dish and that would not be info I am privy to.

 

[tjboston5676]

Ironically, on T-Mob, I keep my phone set to 4G/LTE and avoid 5G because I don't need 100's of Gigs/second on a phone and 5G in a weak area is like dial up

I do the same. I'm on Verizon though. Anytime my phones switches to 5g it's basically unusable.

 

[charlesrshell]

I do the same. I'm on Verizon though. Anytime my phones switches to 5g it's basically unusable.

My Verizon 5G works great for me.

 

[That American Girl]

). A possible DTV merger could help because of the customer base doubling, but there would be an insane amount of headache that I don't think Charlie would want to take on at this point. Partnership with Amazon is still the most likely road IMO.

My understanding of a DTV and Dish merger would be that either the DTV customers would all have to get new equipment, or the Dish people would all need new equipment, as neither one is compatable with the other. And no one would be willing to re-equip millions of customers all at once.