Dish Network announced that it accumulated over 203,000 new Sling TV subscribers. The US pay-TV broadcaster has reported revenue totaling USD 4.53 billion, equivalent to €3.81b billion for the quarter ending at the end of September, compared to USD 3.17 billion for the corresponding period in 2019. The increases have helped offset net losses within its satellite TV business during the third quarter.
The company said it lost approximately 87,000 net Dish TV subscribers and ended up with about 116,000 net pay-TV subscriber additions for the quarter. The company closed the quarter with 11.42 million pay-TV subscribers, including 8.96 million Dish TV subscribers and 2.46 million Sling TV subscribers. Net pay-TV subscribers increased by approximately 116,000 in the third quarter, compared to an increase of approximately 148,000 in the year-ago quarter.
Dish's 2020 revenue totaled USD 10.94 billion through the third quarter, compared to USD 9.57 billion in revenue from the same period last year. In the first nine months of 2020, net income attributable to Dish Network totaled USD 1.03 billion, compared with USD 1.01 billion during the same period last year. Diluted earnings per share were USD 1.77 for the first nine months of 2020, compared with USD 1.91 during the same period in 2019.
Sling TV lost subscribers for the first time in the fourth quarter and more during the first quarter of 2020. The company reported approximately 134,000 net Sling TV subscriber losses during the first nine months of 2020 compared to the addition of approximately 269,000 net Sling TV subscribers during the same period in 2019. Dish attributed the loss to lower Sling TV subscriber activations, increased competition, including competition from other subscription video-on-demand and live-linear OTT service providers, and delays and cancellations of sporting events as a result of COVID-19.
After June ended with both YouTube TV and fuboTV raising their monthly rates, Sling TV began offering a one-year price guarantee for all subscribers who signed up by 1st August. The service also scored deeper integration within the Amazon Fire TV platform and a distribution deal for Comcast Xfinity Flex, the cable provider’s hardware/platform product for its broadband-only subscribers. The deal made Sling TV the first virtual MVPD to launch on the platform. Dish also completed the acquisition of the Boost Mobile business on 1st of this year, and acquired more than 9 million retail wireless subscribers as a result.
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