Dish Swings to Third-Quarter Loss

Scott Greczkowski

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Sep 7, 2003
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Dish Swings to Third-Quarter Loss Amid AMC Networks Litigation Costs


he satellite TV company lost 19,000 pay TV subscribers in the latest period, compared with a year-ago loss of 111,000.

Satellite TV operator Dish Network on Tuesday said it has swung to a third-quarter loss as it lost fewer pay TV subscribers, but booked $730 million in expenses for its recently settled AMC Networks litigation. It also recorded higher programming costs and increased advertising associated with its controversial Hopper set-top box.
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The company, led by chairman Charlie Ergen, posted a loss of $158.5 million, compared with a profit of $319 million in the year-ago period. Revenue declined from $3.60 billion to $3.52 billion.

Dish said it lost 19,000 TV subscribers in the latest period, ending September with a total subscriber base of 14.04 million. In the year-ago period, the company had lost 111,000 subscribers.

Read the rest at http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dish-third-quarter-loss-litigation-expense-401928
 
The subscriber losses were minimal given the AMC situation over the summer. However, I do believe the effects were felt in October when people realized they couldn't find The Walking Dead in the programming guide. Regardless, I'm surprised Dish posted more than $158 million is losses since Ergen has such a good track record with earnings. Likewise, the 730M booked to settle AMC litigation is sure to have an impact on their 4th quarter earnings...and we all know Dish is paying more for programming. It's looks like there will be significant programming/fee increases in 2013.
 
Could some of the loss be attributed to discounts that were given and the Roku? Also the passage "Due to increased programming costs" - yes they have not raised rates but had to pay more for contracts that came up.
 
Will be intresting to read the confrence call information. See if there is any info going into the new year
 
The subscriber losses were minimal given the AMC situation over the summer. However, I do believe the effects were felt in October when people realized they couldn't find The Walking Dead in the programming guide. Regardless, I'm surprised Dish posted more than $158 million is losses since Ergen has such a good track record with earnings. Likewise, the 730M booked to settle AMC litigation is sure to have an impact on their 4th quarter earnings...and we all know Dish is paying more for programming. It's looks like there will be significant programming/fee increases in 2013.

I am betting in the $8.00- $10.00 range increase per programming pack. Most likely an increase in other FEES as well. After all we have already seen increases in the Red Zone channel and other ala cart programming . I'm betting a $10.00 dvr fee will be the new price for all dvrs. And lets not forget the additional receiver prices. It has been all most 3 years since the outrageous increases in the Vip series of dvrs , from $7.00- $17.00. I would not be surprised if we see an increase in the basic $7.00 fee to maybe $8.00 or $9.00. The additional hopper being the same price as the joey always seemed to me to be bait , to get you to add an additional hopper and then BOOM ! They increase the price to similar to what the additional Vip dvrs costs. I hope I am completely wrong ,but I just don't see old Charlie absorbing the losses without spreading the pain around to all of us.
 
MikeD-C05 said:
I am betting in the $8.00- $10.00 range increase per programming pack. Most likely an increase in other FEES as well. After all we have already seen increases in the Red Zone channel and other ala cart programming . I'm betting a $10.00 dvr fee will be the new price for all dvrs. And lets not forget the additional receiver prices. It has been all most 3 years since the outrageous increases in the Vip series of dvrs , from $7.00- $17.00. I would not be surprised if we see an increase in the basic $7.00 fee to maybe $8.00 or $9.00. The additional hopper being the same price as the joey always seemed to me to be bait , to get you to add an additional hopper and then BOOM ! They increase the price to similar to what the additional Vip dvrs costs. I hope I am completely wrong ,but I just don't see old Charlie absorbing the losses without spreading the pain around to all of us.

I just don't see this happening. If they increase it this much they will be equal to or more expensive than Directv for most people. They keep pushing how they are the budget friendly provider. Your $8 to $10 increase plus all your new fees would make them the most expensive provider. Not gonna happen.
 
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I am betting in the $8.00- $10.00 range increase per programming pack. Most likely an increase in other FEES as well. After all we have already seen increases in the Red Zone channel and other ala cart programming . I'm betting a $10.00 dvr fee will be the new price for all dvrs. And lets not forget the additional receiver prices. It has been all most 3 years since the outrageous increases in the Vip series of dvrs , from $7.00- $17.00. I would not be surprised if we see an increase in the basic $7.00 fee to maybe $8.00 or $9.00. The additional hopper being the same price as the joey always seemed to me to be bait , to get you to add an additional hopper and then BOOM ! They increase the price to similar to what the additional Vip dvrs costs. I hope I am completely wrong ,but I just don't see old Charlie absorbing the losses without spreading the pain around to all of us.

I too feel that we're going to get hit hard because of the two year freeze. But I don't think it will be that hard. I think we'll see a $5 base package increase, a $1-$2 receiver increase and a $1 increase in the "mini-packages". The one thing I'm worried about is an additional fee for the "TV2" out tuners. That would really suck. Luckily, I do have plenty of choices and won't be paying $10 or more extra for my current package. I do feel sorry for the people who only have a choice of D* and E* though.
 
They booked $730m charge for the settlement and only showed a loss of $158.5m. Sounds like they are not suffering on an operating basis.
 
If the AMC cost was figured in then they done really well. If AMC cost was not figured in but will be for 4Q then they are in for a bit of a larger loss next quarter. At least they are not losing as many subscribers as they had been.

Dish cannot do another big price hike on a lot of things without losing a bunch of customers this time around. If they do it again then the subscribers that saw it last time to see another one is going to wonder how many more will come their way and look for other options, especially those getting out of contracts.
 
The way I see it is you can't say to customers "We are in dispute with all these channels to keep your bills low" then raise package prices by $5 to $10 and then raise all fees too. Some people on the "other" board seem to think a $20 increase total for everyone or most people. So again how can you tell your customers that and then raise the prices that much?

Now I really don't believe they will raise them by $20 across the board. That would make a hell of a lot of people switch and I don't think Dish is that stupid.
 
I really think they will rehaul all the promotions they have. They're have been the same packages for the last three years with similar promotions. It will be interesting to see what they do but we won't know until the January retailer chat.
 
They aren't going to be able to raise rates/fees $10 across the board let alone $20.It would be a mass exodus from Dish if they did that.Charlie is a shrewd business man,he will squeeze as much as is feasibly possible $5-$6 but no more than that.