And that shows up in metrics like customer acquisition costs and ARPU numbers. It's not fuzzy math to include Sling subscribers in their numbers, they should have been doing it from the beginning. Wall Street analysts worth their salt will be able to figure out how that will affect the company as the mix changes.
DISH Network Reports Third Quarter 2015 Financial Results
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And that shows up in metrics like customer acquisition costs and ARPU numbers. It's not fuzzy math to include Sling subscribers in their numbers, they should have been doing it from the beginning. Wall Street analysts worth their salt will be able to figure out how that will affect the company as the mix changes.
I still am lost how the ARPU can still be higher when it should have slightly fallen by including the SlingTV subscriptions. Did I miss a drop in the ARPU when Sling subscribers were first added to the equation? Or are they only counting the SlingTV subscribers in gross revenue/net profit and subscriber acquisitions/losses?
I'm surprised they lost as few subscribers as they report. I'd guess the satellite subscriber base will continue slowly decaying as cable and fiber are extended to more and more remote locations.
While Dish is usually very good in disclosures, it sure looks like they are being a bit less than candid on their new land licenses. Yes, they do say that there are specific build out rates (40 percent of area by 2017 for one of the packages). But, they say little on build out progress. Seems like a lot of work and or deal making must be done real soon or they lose the licenses and a pile of cash - like billions.
While Dish is usually very good in disclosures, it sure looks like they are being a bit less than candid on their new land licenses. Yes, they do say that there are specific build out rates (40 percent of area by 2017 for one of the packages). But, they say little on build out progress. Seems like a lot of work and or deal making must be done real soon or they lose the licenses and a pile of cash - like billions.
They do have some, such as the Roku's Chromecasts or Google TV boxes they were giving away with a 3 month subscription.
Dish’s Core TV Business Is Shrinking at ‘Shocking’ Rate: Analyst https://www.yahoo.com/tv/s/dish-core-tv-business-shrinking-shocking-rate-analyst-200717082.html
Something is amiss with this logic. Where are they getting a "[SlingTV] net gain of 155,000 for the third quarter"? If they are averaging out 394,000 over the 7 month span, that is a faulty assumption. First, it doesn't take into account any drops in the SlingTV service, and presumably, the bulk of the new adds to SlingTV would likely be concentrated in the first few months of its launch, and leveling off over time. Also, conversely, the total drops in the service would likely increase later in time as more subscribers are added. Either way, there is no basis for claiming that 178,000 satellite subscribers were lost in Q3.
Take note that much of the info interpreted was from Craig Moffett, who has been spinning Dish Doomsday for years.
I'm not following how he came to his conclusion. But no denying no matter the rate DISH continues to lose customers. But that may not be the takeaway about DISH. It may be they remain profitable and could allow them to weather the storm, and it may be they are doing better than Cable. Weather the storm meaning Charlie has been quite resourceful over the years, we don't know what he has planned (or not planned to be fair) to change the Satellite model to make it more appealing to the younger people more interested in online. And I still am sticking to that we do not know what the true cost of online will be if it's growth continues. If internet providers feel they can raise rates significantly because people are somewhat at the mercy of their service they will, as one example. Programs now free the next day may no longer be, what Netflix is charged may greatly increase and they must raise rates, or Disney (as an example) could pull all their programming from everyone online and you must subscribe to them to watch, etc etc...
Craig Moffett's math has always been a little hard to follow.
I expect that there is considerable migration between DISH and Sling TV.
You got that right . I guess if hemorrhaging is a customer base loss of less than 1 percent per year (0.8 percent), then Dish is hemorrhaging.
Fiber, yes, but cable? I see more houses around me with dishes than without. TWC offers mediocre Internet, but terrible TV service. I do not expect that to improve with time. Once Google Fiber shows up, people will probably try it out, but I don't really see cable stealing Sat. customers unless something changes.
I don't know, the cable companies are adding net video subscribers, even if it's slow. Charter has drastically turned around their operations, and if I still lived in a Charter area I'd have it instead of Dish. Plus, as people are downsizing their video subscriptions, they're going to cable by default (get "free" video bundled with your internet connection for the upside of getting TV Everywhere logins)
Keep in mind dish is including the sling tv numbers to hide the loss of satellite tv customers.
Wait another 6 months when the sling tv bug wears off and they start loosing subscribers there also.
Wait another 6 months when the sling tv bug wears off and they start loosing subscribers there also.
Didn't you say that after its release in February? I think you actually said "wait 6 months for the thrill to lessen."
Are we just going to keep pushing it back 6 months until you are right?
I believe you may be the only person reporting that. They are not adding video subscribers they are losing them. Not Charter, not Time Warner, not Comcast, not Cablevision, not Uverse. Didn't check any others individually. But there are plenty of articles outlining it. They lost far more the second quarter than at almost any other time.
http://fortune.com/2015/08/18/cable-consumers-keep-cutting-the-cord/
Dish is still not handing out $200 gift cards like candy his competitors have although DirecTV has decreased that amount to a $100 gift card as of late. Still, it is about giving people money to buy your service. Dish did seem to start a very tepid gift card to lure customers but seems to have it under wraps, instead promoting the 2 year price lock and trying to give away old iPads and Xbox's (or was it Playstations? Still not the gift card that allows people to buy whatever they want). Every individual I know who had the choice of MVPD's chose the gift card giveaway. At least 3 people I know who were leaning towards Dish, ended up getting DirecTV for, you guessed it, the then $200 gift card they just could not refuse. Add to that the cable companies will pay up to several hundred dollars the expense of ETF and GIVE a gift card on top or something else just to get them to cancel Dish and come with them. I do believe NFL ST and DirecTV being the sportsman's fantasy MVPD may explain why it seems fewer DirecTV subs accept the pay to go to cable than Dish subscribers.
Sorry, Charlie, but I'm certain you just don't like giving people money to buy your service, and considering how all your competitors a far larger and have far deeper pockets, you strategy of taking some losses but increasing positives on other fronts may be the only way you can compete. But I'm sure Charlie just feels that handing out, now, $100 gift cards is just to counter-intuitive and just plain costs too much money. I'm not so certain gross subscriber numbers are all that telling, and we may put to much in that one measurement, but it is one Wall Street demands, and that is the problem for Dish. If they were a private company, they would be touted as this lean money making machine with substantially fewer subs than DirecTV while providing the best tech in the Hopper to its subs, but because Dish ultimately answers to Wall Street, there is too much focus on measurements that don't necessarily tell one how well or poor a company is doing.
Sorry, Charlie, but I'm certain you just don't like giving people money to buy your service, and considering how all your competitors a far larger and have far deeper pockets, you strategy of taking some losses but increasing positives on other fronts may be the only way you can compete. But I'm sure Charlie just feels that handing out, now, $100 gift cards is just to counter-intuitive and just plain costs too much money. I'm not so certain gross subscriber numbers are all that telling, and we may put to much in that one measurement, but it is one Wall Street demands, and that is the problem for Dish. If they were a private company, they would be touted as this lean money making machine with substantially fewer subs than DirecTV while providing the best tech in the Hopper to its subs, but because Dish ultimately answers to Wall Street, there is too much focus on measurements that don't necessarily tell one how well or poor a company is doing.
True, and to add Charlie (quite sometime ago) actually said they would rather have fewer but paying subscribers than more but not as many paying. So far it seems to be profitable and DISH does continue to invest for future options.
Well he is certainly getting the fewer customers part , just about every quarter now for the last few years. Whether they are all paying their bills is another question.
