Dish Stock Falls As Pay-TV Subscriber Losses Accelerate, Profit Beats

[MitchDeerfield]

Dish Network (DISH) reported third-quarter profit that topped expectations but the satellite TV broadcaster lost 341,000 net pay-TV customers. Dish stock fell in early trading on Wednesday.

The satellite TV broadcaster reported profit of 82 cents a share, up 44% from a year earlier. Dish said revenue fell 5% to $3.4 billion, in-line with estimates. A year earlier, Dish earned 57 cents a share on sales of $3.58 billion. Analysts expected Dish earnings of 67 cents on sales of $3.4 billion for the period ended Sept. 30.

Dish said it lost 367,000 satellite TV customers in the September quarter. The company added 26,000 subscribers for its Sling-branded web TV services. Sling growth has been decelerating. In the September 2017 quarter, Dish added a total of 16,000 pay-TV customers.

Dish has amassed wireless spectrum for 5G wireless services. But the value of its airwaves has been undercut by the proposed merger of T-Mobile US (TMUS)) with Sprint(S) as well as upcoming government auctions.

Dish's attempts to find a wireless or internet partner to build out a networks has turned up empty. The pay-TV company needs to build out a wireless network soon or it could lose spectrum licenses.

Verizon Communications (VZ) has stated no interest in acquiring the declining satellite TV business.

Dish stock fell 3.9% to 30.25 in early trading in the stock market today.

www.investors.com

 

[MitchDeerfield]

More and more profits from less and less subscribers.

 

[comfortably_numb]

More and more profits from less and less subscribers.

Did we think it would happen any other way?

Same as the newspaper industry.

 

[bluegras]

Dish Serves Up Worst-Ever Quarterly Subscriber Loss Amid Univision Blackout

 

[nelson61]

3rd Quarter 10Q

dish_Current folio_10Q_Taxonomy2018

 

[nelson61]

Still apparently haggling over the Ciel 2 lease (expires January 2019) and have not renewed it as of this time.

 

[JSheridan]

Still apparently haggling over the Ciel 2 lease (expires January 2019) and have not renewed it as of this time.

Hardball negotiations?

 

[nelson61]

Dishes says less customers is acceptable if the content providers want too much $.
"Dish beats profit estimates, expects more subscriber losses" - Dish beats profit estimates, expects more subscriber losses | Reuters


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[ekilgus]

Dish Network (DISH) reported third-quarter profit that topped expectations but the satellite TV broadcaster lost 341,000 net pay-TV customers. Dish stock fell in early trading on Wednesday.

The satellite TV broadcaster reported profit of 82 cents a share, up 44% from a year earlier. Dish said revenue fell 5% to $3.4 billion, in-line with estimates. A year earlier, Dish earned 57 cents a share on sales of $3.58 billion. Analysts expected Dish earnings of 67 cents on sales of $3.4 billion for the period ended Sept. 30.

Dish said it lost 367,000 satellite TV customers in the September quarter. The company added 26,000 subscribers for its Sling-branded web TV services. Sling growth has been decelerating. In the September 2017 quarter, Dish added a total of 16,000 pay-TV customers.

Dish has amassed wireless spectrum for 5G wireless services. But the value of its airwaves has been undercut by the proposed merger of T-Mobile US (TMUS)) with Sprint(S) as well as upcoming government auctions.

Dish's attempts to find a wireless or internet partner to build out a networks has turned up empty. The pay-TV company needs to build out a wireless network soon or it could lose spectrum licenses.

Verizon Communications (VZ) has stated no interest in acquiring the declining satellite TV business.

Dish stock fell 3.9% to 30.25 in early trading in the stock market today.

www.investors.com

I read that Dish Network has inked agreements with network equipment vendor Ericsson and tower company SBA Communications in order to complete its nationwide NB-IoT network build-out by March 2020. And Dish indicated they will spend 1 billion for this first phase.

 

[navychop]

I wonder if Charlie is making a deal with Tesla.


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[Howard Simmons]

I wonder if Charlie is making a deal with Tesla.


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Well Tesla did get a new CEO.

 

[Jim5506]

When Tesla crashes, Charlie will buy it and launch a new satellite that is shaped like a Tesla but is really a toaster.

 

[sam_gordon]

Am I looking at this wrong? Their PROFITS are up. Not their income. So even through all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over stations increasing their fees, Dish still is making more in profits than before? Doesn't that mean that of these increased prices, Dish is keeping more in profit than what they're paying for the product?

 

[Tampa8]

Am I looking at this wrong? Their PROFITS are up. Not their income. So even through all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over stations increasing their fees, Dish still is making more in profits than before? Doesn't that mean that of these increased prices, Dish is keeping more in profit than what they're paying for the product?

Not necessarily that simple. From several years ago DISH said (Paraphrasing obviously) they would not try to keep customers who don't pay, call all the time for all kinds of problems, etc etc. Add to that now they seem to be willing to lose customers who must have "expensive" programming that maybe not enough subscribers care enough about. So they may be doing well because the core of customers pay, have add ons. Contributing may be the ending of the VIP series for new subscribers and not rehabbing those units or nearly as many.

That said the purpose is to make money so like all companies they are charging as much as they think they can (the market will bare) but keep the customers they want. Certainly for me for four years now I am getting a discount that even as new customer with those same channels I may not get if I switched even if I wanted to. I have add ons (less now with no HBO) and pay on time. Auto pay for a $5 discount probably makes them money in the end in getting payments on time, in the bank getting interest etc and not chasing people, turning on and off equipment etc etc...

 

[MitchDeerfield]

Am I looking at this wrong? Their PROFITS are up. Not their income. So even through all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over stations increasing their fees, Dish still is making more in profits than before? Doesn't that mean that of these increased prices, Dish is keeping more in profit than what they're paying for the product?

Yes, profits are up. Dish used to be the price leader, now their rates are slightly higher than DTV. They also don't spend as much on aggressive customer intro promos. If an existing customer demands a discount, they will give up only a little. And they simply don't carry a lot of channels that others do. Ovation, OAN, Univision, MavTV, El Rey, MHC, BBC World News, HBO, Cinemax, they don't have to pay for.

 

[ncted]

Am I looking at this wrong? Their PROFITS are up. Not their income. So even through all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over stations increasing their fees, Dish still is making more in profits than before? Doesn't that mean that of these increased prices, Dish is keeping more in profit than what they're paying for the product?

I think a lot of the profit improvement is from not accepting new customers with bad credit and dumping customers who don't pay their bills on time.

 

[mwdxer1]

Yes, profits are up. Dish used to be the price leader, now their rates are slightly higher than DTV. They also don't spend as much on aggressive customer intro promos. If an existing customer demands a discount, they will give up only a little. And they simply don't carry a lot of channels that others do. Ovation, OAN, Univision, MavTV, El Rey, MHC, BBC World News, HBO, Cinemax, they don't have to pay for.

They do carry BBC World News in SD, but it is not in AT250.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I think a lot of the profit improvement is from not accepting new customers with bad credit and dumping customers who don't pay their bills on time.

I don’t think they raised the credit requirements, but they have not been as aggressive going after new customers offering Lots of discounts.

They won’t dump a customer who has issues paying, but won’t do anything for them.

 

[ncted]

I don’t think they raised the credit requirements, but they have not been as aggressive going after new customers offering Lots of discounts.

They won’t dump a customer who has issues paying, but won’t do anything for them.

Sorry, to clarify, Dish has increased the credit requirements to get the best deal, including adding additional credit checks to see if you switch providers a lot. I experienced this first hand as, even though I have an excellent FICO score, I could not get the best deal without talking to retention. I got a letter in the mail telling me the reason I wasn't initially eligible for the best deal was my NCTUE rating. I imagine this has disincentivized a lot of people if they couldn't get the advertised deal.

In addition, they made a statement in an earnings call a couple of years ago that they would begin aggressively disconnect delinquent accounts. I don't have the time right now to search through a dozen or more transcripts, but I recall it clearly. Anyway, that is what I was referring to.

They may also be less aggressive in their new customer acquisition efforts. You'd probably know more about that than me.

 

[docdaddy]

Yeah, I've also read they've significantly improved their "bad debt" number, mainly delinquent customers, and have done more to make sure the credit of incoming customers is good. They do help out existing customers: I got a good deal with a two year price lock when I left Directv two years ago, which basically gave me the same programming package level at about $30 less per month, and after it ran out I was given an existing customers deal that basically renewed the deal for two years. I do have good credit scores and I've never missed or been late on a payment, FWIW.