Dish Network Earnings Call Recap

[Scott Greczkowski]

Dish Network is holding their 1st Quarter Earnings Call today at Noon. Please use this thread for a recap of the call.

I will be listening in but will only be able to listen until 12:30 as my office scheduled me for a meeting at that time.

If you are listening in feel free to post your own recap and thoughts.

Thanks for being SatelliteGuys!

 

[goaliebob99]

Scott, from 1230 on I can take it if needed I dont see a bumrush of It problems here where I work at.

 

[goaliebob99]

Its started, going over disclosures

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Here we go... Most of the folks on the call are execs who were at our SatelliteGuys Meet and Greet on Saturday.

We go directly into q&a.

 

[goaliebob99]

Straight in to Q and A

Did the OTA Transition add to the sub base?

They did sell alot of set top boxes for free ota tv. Obviously on June 13th well know more about it.

How would you grade the company this quarter?

I think that, I give the grade internally, last year we really were getting worse, I think for us its to stabilize and get better. So we have a lot to work to get there. I feel very comfortable with our team that we have now. That transition (management team) is in place, the second part is knowing what your going to accomplish, and now we need to execute.) that's how you get better but it wont happen over night.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Charlie hopes that he is on a path to get better. He is happy with his new management team.

 

[goaliebob99]

Your sub related expenses are the most in a while is that related to the MPEG 4 box swaps?

Yes, The biggest componate is programming costs. Second, is retention spening and has been increasing, last is running the cost centers and DNSC's.

Did the absance of ATT help SAC?

No, I dont think it has really much of an impact (charlie)

Tivo question,

(Charlie)There are two things that the judge has to decide (incrimental damages) and the second is if were in contempt of court. From my perspective is were going by the law having particapted in the trial, we know how materialy diffrent our software is so we feel comortable that were on the right side of the law, but one we havent won these rulings in district court so thats something that we will have to work on. Im very confident that we will win the ruling and no matter what it its one side or the other will appeal it.

 

[goaliebob99]

Second quarter trends,

Its too early to tell


How much do your other teleco relationship's contribute to growth of subs..

Charlie, I can tell you that att will be at a zero next quarter. They are good long term partners for us as they work closely with echostar, and engineering side and work well with the retailer base, They are important stratigically, obviously att and verizion are larger, neverless they are stratigically as we complement each other.

 

[goaliebob99]

What are you seeing in the economy and the housing market? Where are you versus competitors.

(charlie) yea, I would have not expected the net gain that we saw with all providers versus housing, I don't know where that come from, there might be more dual technology homes where people add basic cable and Fios. There is one factor that affects us is housing. It looks like housing is starting to recover in various pockets in the country. There are dish's on the homes of foreclosed homes so we have an opportunity to gain a coustomer when the new owners move in. Most new coustomers will look at satellite as an alternative.

 

[goaliebob99]

Can you give us an impact of retailer shutdown and churn, will you continue that?

The retailers we did shut down were engaging in practices that was against company policy, that is a small percentage of our retailers, we have a great relationship with the rest of our retailer place, again those retailers were terminated due to their practices.

 

[goaliebob99]

In regards with att, are the trends the same as q1 or are you seeing the trends continue.


A. We don't comment on the current quarter of market activity but we will defend our coustomers regardless of what channel they came from. Current market activity is something that we always look at between competitors.

 

[tomcrown1]

Boy it looks like Charlie does not get it!!!!

 

[KAB]

Boy it looks like Charlie does not get it!!!!

Congratulations, you're the first.

 

[goaliebob99]

What is the penetration of HD DVR's?

We dont disclose penitration, We do know that we are ahead on dvr's ahead of cable, and behind in the HD DVR a little bit. Were well postioned as we have more HD than anybody including Directv.

 

[goaliebob99]

What kind of trends do you see in the market where uverse does roll out.

Our weakest markets are where a good operator has a triple play at a great price. In a uverse market in the north east might not be the best place for us to compete, but with that said we will have to concentrate in markets that we can compete. For instance if i live in a million dollar machion with uverse a mile a way and att brought me a line i might get it, but if I live on a farm in rural utah, then I would go with dish network.


Worst case senerio ifyou have to pull all dvr's out of service in reguards to TIVO whats your thoughs about that.

(charlie) I dont think negatively, being a satcaster I think very positively, so we havent thought about it.


Where are you on piracy?

In terms of piracy, were very complose to completing that project. Every coustomer has recived the new cards and were weeks from completing that process.

 

[goaliebob99]

Charlie (in the month of June we will see some disruptions as we complete the smart card swap in conjunction with the digital transition.)

 

[goaliebob99]

Last Question:

on cashflow... this conference call was boring

 

[goaliebob99]

Thats it, the next one is in August, Charlie wont be on the call then as he has vacation scheduled and a Family birthday.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Thanks Bob, my 12:30 meeting started at 12:12. I didnt get to hear much.

 

[harshness]

I'm wondering who was typing on goaliebob99's behalf in the middle there. His spelling improves dramatically when he's jammin'.